Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) foot complications are a leading cause of many admissions in health facilities and death.

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine the 1) proportion of patients with associated risk factors of diabetic foot ulceration, and 2) the association between practices and clinical foot examination.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using time limited sampling. Participants were known adult diabetic patients attending the Buea Regional Hospital (BRH) and Limbe Regional Hospital (LRH) who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Also a clinical foot examination was conducted to check for common foot deformities, nail care, skin of foot condition, foot pulses, sensory neuropathy and foot wear assessment. Fourteen questions were asked regarding practices of foot care. Each question was assigned one mark for correct response. A score of more than 70% (10 - 14), 50 - 70% (7 - 9) and less than 50% (<7) were graded as good, satisfactory and poor for practices.

Results: A total of 404 diabetic patients were recruited in the study. The mean age of the respondents was 56.8 ± 13.5 years. Meanwhile, 320 (79.2%) and 82 (20.8%) had favourable and unfavourable attitudes respectively. Whereas 156 (38.6%), 169 (41.8%) and 79 (19.6%) of the respondents had good, satisfactory and poor practices respectively. The educational level of the respondents had significant statistical association with knowledge (p < 0.01) and attitudes (p < 0.01) but not practices regarding foot care. Sex had significant association with knowledge (p < 0.01) regarding diabetic foot care. Sex and monthly income of the respondents were not significantly associated with attitudes and practices. 91 (22.5%) of the respondents had some associated risk factors of diabetic foot ulceration. Improper foot wear had shown significant statistical association with the occurrence of blisters (p < 0.01) and swelling (p < 0.01) regarding foot care respectively.

Conclusion: More than one third of diabetic patients had good practices while less than one third had good habits. Close to one quarter of the patients have risk factors of diabetic foot ulceration. Foot wear had showed significant association with the occurrences of blisters and swelling. The results of this study highlight the gaps in practices and underscore the urgent need for a patient friendly educational intervention coupled with regular physician reinforcement to reduce the risk of diabetic foot ulcer and amputations.

Keywords: Diabetic Foot Care; Practices; Prevention; Risk Factors

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Citation

Citation: Nkengafac Nyiawung Fobellah., et al. “Risk Factors and Practices on Diabetic Foot Among Patients at the Buea and Limbe Regional Hospital, South West Region of Cameroon". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 4.12 (2020): 92-102.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Nkengafac Nyiawung Fobellah., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.