Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Trophic disorders of the diabetic foot and their complications represent a major public health problem. Treatment must be accompanied by quality therapeutic education to allow patients to self-manage their disease. The objective of this work is to evaluate, with the help of a questionnaire, the knowledge of diabetic patients on the diabetic foot.

Materials and Methods: We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study among 50 diabetic patients hospitalized in ward A, at the National Institute of Nutrition in Tunis.

Results: The average age of our patients was 52±12 years with a M/F sex ratio of 0.22. The majority of patients were type 2 diabetics (n=34). The average age of diabetes was 12.5±7 years. During the clinical examination of the foot, plantar hyperkeratosis was the most noted manifestation with a frequency of 72%. It was noted that 86% of the patients had never attended a therapeutic education session for diabetic foot and 48% of the patients had no idea about its mechanisms and favoring factors. Regular foot inspection was present in only 28% of patients, while 26% were unaware of the clinical manifestations and 30% did not cite any means of prevention. On the other hand, 92% of our patients knew that amputation was the main risk of the diabetic foot.

Conclusion: Therapeutic education of patients regarding the diabetic foot is crucial. Nevertheless, educational deficiencies persist, highlighting the need for a structured program involving the entire health care team.