Self Care Activities, Diabetic Distress and other Factors which Affected the Glycaemic Control in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in South India

Interventions which were made to promote a better self-management have produced improvements in the glycaemic control in patients with Diabetes mellitus. An improved glycaemic control is known to prevent the long term complications. This study was conducted at the Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Foundation, which is a rural tertiary health care centre. 546 patients were included in our study and they were assessed for the glycaemic control (HbA1c), diabetes distress (DDs), and self care activities. Of the total 546 patients, 49% had a poor glycaemic control, as was indicated by HbA1c levels of >7%. The factors which are significantly associated with a poor glycaemic control are age (p=0.03 ), sex (p= 0.0415), literacy (p=0.0422), duration of the disease (p=0.0006), diabetic distress (p=0.0001) and self care activities like diet ( p=0.0001), medication (p=0.0001) and exercise (p=0.0001), whereas there was no significant effect of the BM I (p=0.094) on the glycaemic control. This study revealed the factors that could predict the glycaemic control in the diabetic patients who attended our tertiary care teaching hospital. The barriers that prevent these patients from meeting their goals must be explored, to improve their health outcomes.