Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding diabetic foot care among Saudi and non-Saudi diabetic patients in Alkharj

CONTEXT: There is a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia. Also, the diabetic foot complication rate is alarmingly high with many patients ending in amputation. AIMS: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding diabetic foot care among Saudi and non-Saudi diabetic patients in Alkharj. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: It is a cross-sectional study conducted from May 22(nd), 2019 to April 1(st), 2020 at Diabetic clinic, Military Hospital in Alkharj. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Non-randomized, non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from 224 patients by using a validated and confidential questionnaire in either face-to-face interviews or as an electronic survey. All adult patients over 18 years of age of both sexes having type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus were included. The patients who were unable to provide the requested information were excluded. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were analyzed using SPSS version 24. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 49.37 years with 58.5% male and 41.5% female patients. About 58% of patients had diabetes for more than 10 years. More than half of the patients reported some foot problems, while 9.4% have had active or healed ulcerations. The mean scores for knowledge, attitude, and practice were 8.576, 4, and 13, respectively, all statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Our study population has sufficient knowledge about diabetes and its foot complication, and they also had a positive attitude towards its management. However, they were lagging in the practices required for diabetic foot management.