OBJECTIVES

: Effect of diabetes related self-care activities (DRSCA) on glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Pakistan is yet unclear. We aimed to examine the association of DRSCA with glycemic control of patients with T2DM, which will help in designing an effective patient’s educational intervention.

METHODS

: Cross sectional study was conducted on n=218 adult patients with T2DM, diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (DM) of at least 1 year in duration, from three diabetes clinics of Pakistan. Ethics approval was obtained from the respective data collection sites and Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval No. 7767). Pre-validated Urdu version of Diabetes Self-management Questionnaire (DSMQ) was used to evaluate the self-care practices among T2DM patients. Liner regression analysis was conducted to examine the significant predictors for diabetes related self-care activates and glycemic control.

RESULTS

: Mean age of the patients was 50.77±13.3 years. Most of the patients (83%) had poor glycemic control (HbA1C≥7%). Diabetes related self-care activities were significantly associated (p<0.05) with patient’s smoking status, level of education, nature of euglycemic therapy and glycemic control. Linear regression analysis showed that glucose management (β -0.44; 95% CI -0.438, -0.209; p< 0.001], dietary control (β -0.19; 95% CI -0.248, -0.018; p=0.01) and physical activity (β -0.17; 95%CI -0.165, -0.023; p=0.02], were the significant predictors for lowering the levels of HbA1c in T2DM patients.

CONCLUSIONS

: Self-care activities were significantly associated with glycemic control, among these, glucose management had the greatest impact. Based on these findings an appropriate diabetes self-care educational intervention can be designed for achieving target glycemic control in T2DM patients.