Knowledge, attitude and practice of foot care in diabetes patients with foot at risk attending diabetology department of a tertiary care hospital

Background: The current study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of foot care among diabetes patients with foot at risk, to evaluate the impact of counselling in terms of KAP score, VPT (vibration perception threshold) value, foot examination status and other clinical parameter, to assess the severity of peripheral neuropathy in diabetes patients based on VPT value and to assess the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy among men and women.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional and interventional study was conducted in the diabetology department of a tertiary care hospital in South India. A total of 100 diabetes patients with foot at risk were selected for the study. A questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of foot care among diabetes patients with foot at risk. The questionnaire consists of total 24 questions. Their knowledge, attitude and practice were classified as good, satisfactory and poor depending upon the score. For the KAP, if score is ≥70% it was regarded as good, 50-69% as satisfactory and <50% as poor.Results: The study assessed that among 100 patients, 6% of the participants had good knowledge before counselling and after counselling, 46% had satisfactory level of knowledge and 43% had good knowledge. Most of the patients had a good attitude towards foot care before and after counselling. Only 1% of patients were in good practice before counselling and after counselling 62% of the patients had satisfactory practice and 25% had good practice. The study revealed that about 53% had a VPT value of 26-50 V before providing counselling and after counselling about 43% of the participants VPT became 26-50 V. The study also showed that the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy according to VPT value is more in males than females.Conclusions: Poor knowledge and poor practice were observed among the diabetes patients with foot at risk who had attended the diabetology department. Poor knowledge and practice are the major reason for the amputation of limb as the people are unaware of their foot care. Thus, by providing proper education regarding foot care, the foot complications can be improved and there by the amputation rate can be reduced to an extent