OBJECTIVES : The objective of the research was to explore the knowledge of patients aged 65+ with type 2 diabetes (T2D) or hypertension (HT) in Slovenia.

METHODS : A survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 182 HT patients and 130 T2D patients, aged 65+, from Community Health Center Ljubljana. The questionnaire used to measure knowledge in patients with T2D was 14-question Brief Diabetes Knowledge Test; in patients with HT the first 11 questions of the Hypertension Knowledge Test were used. Each question was worth 1 point. The research was conducted within the EU-funded H2020 SCUBY project.

RESULTS : In D2T patients, the average score was 7.5±3.01 (max 14) (men: 7.46, women: 7.56). Not a single subject responded correctly to all 14 questions. In comparison to similar research conducted in 2012 in Slovenia which used the same knowledge test, the results were similar (2012: 8.0±2.4), indicating that the knowledge has not improved a lot since in the last 8 years. The highest score was achieved in the category Activity (61% correct), the lowest in Management (25% correct). In HT patients, the average score was 6.9±1.64 (men: 6.8, woman: 7.0). Not a single subject responded correctly to all 11 questions. In spite of better test results among women in both diseases, the differences in knowledge between both groups were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS : Despite the various organized educations and preventive workshop where information about the T2D/HT and their management are available, the elderly patient population in Slovenia shows a low level of general knowledge about both diseases. More emphasis should be put on systematic and continuous education and empowerment of newly diagnosed as well as the existing patients with T2D/HT.