Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Prayer marks (PMs) have been reported in the literature among Muslim prayers. PMs are found most often on the forehead, knees, ankles and dorsa of the feet. The most common changes consist of thickening, lichenification and hyperpigmentation of the skin, the causative factors being repeated pressure and friction during pray.

Objectives: Immigrant populations are disproportionately affected by diabetes and its complications. Moreover, diabetic foot ulcer is a major complication of diabetes mellitus, and probably the major component of the diabetic foot. PMs are foot lesions that can ulcerate. In our study we focused on the frequency of PMs among Bangladeshi immigrants who live in Athens, Greece and have diabetes.

Methods: A total of 166 immigrants from Bangladesh (150 men and 16 women) with diabetes mellitus and 65 (58 males and eight females) normal subjects from Bangladesh were recruited. Characteristic pictures of PMs are taken and provided.

Results: The mean duration of living in Greece was 10.34±6.2 years. The mean age was 44.05±8.1 years old and the reported duration of diabetes 4.86±4.5 years. The mean A1C was 7.74±1.6% and the mean Glucose values 190.3±72 mg/dl. A total of 28 patients with diabetes (16.9%) (one patient with type 1 DM, and 27 patients with type 2 DM) and one subject in control group (1.5%) had PMs and all of them where males. Diabetic patients with PMs and diabetic patients without PMs had similar and not statistical significant BMI (23.67±2.89 vs 24.30±3.42 kg/m², P=0.187), age (44.04±7.3 vs 44.06±8.35 years, P=0.488), disease duration (3.86±3.0 vs 5.07±4.74, P=0.080), and A1C values (7.4±1.3 vs 7.8±1.6%, P=0.408). None of the PMs had infection, ulceration or bleeding at the time of examination. The marks were not itchy or painful and they were observed on the dorsal aspect of the left foot.

Conclusions: PMs can often provide clinicians with helpful information for the patient’s cultural background. PMs could ulcerate and our study emphasizes the need for clinical awareness of PMs, especially for patients with diabetes. Moreover, people come from different ethnic groups and ethnicity can have important effects on health and on the management and treatment of diabetes.