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Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common, chronic, metabolic disease characterized by
hyperglycemia as a cardinal biochemical feature. It has acute and chronic complications which
significantly contribute to the morbidity and mortality in such patients. Knowledge about the
disease is important for proper self-management and is the foundation of diabetes treatment.
Children and adolescent living with diabetes must have sufficient knowledge of diabetes.
Objectives: To assess diabetes knowledge among diabetic children and adolescent and its effect
of glycemic control in children and adolescent attending diabetic clinic at HUCSH
Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study design was conducted among children and
adolescent with diabetes attending paediatrics diabetic follow up clinic of Hawassa university
comprehensive specialized hospital from May 5 , 2022 to September – 5, 2022. A total of 107
children and adolescent with diabetes was included in the study which is selected by systematic
random sampling technique. Knowledge of diabetes was evaluated by using Diabetes knowledge
questioner and HbA1C results obtained from patient record. The data on the questionnaire was
entered into SPSS and analyzed.
Result: The study included 107 children and adolescents, of whom 52.3% were females. 49.5%
of participants were aged between 8 and 14 years. Most of participants were middle in birth
order (44.9%). Most of participants’ mothers have secondary school (29%) and most of
participants’ fathers had university education (35.5%). Almost all participants’ father has
occupation and 57% of participants’ mother has no occupation. About half of the participants
(49.5%) had good knowledge levels. Sex of the patient [AOR = 5.407(95%CI = 0.998, 29.289)],
Average monthly family income [AOR = 13.512(95%CI = 2.975 – 61.378)], HgbA1c level
[AOR = 0.118(95%CI = 0.029, 0.478] were significantly associated with diabetes knowledge.
Conclusion: The study found positive associations between diabetic knowledge and socio –
demographic factors, as well as better glycemic control. Poor glycemic control was prevalent in
children and adolescents with diabetes. Knowledge about the causes, control, self-monitoring
and other self-care measures especially with regard to preventive measures were specific aspects
of diabetes that need to be further strengthened among the diabetic patients. Recommendation: More efforts are required to scale up the diabetes knowledge among children
and adolescents. Further, a deep and well-designed study that includes a quantitative and
qualitative approach is recommended to address other hidden factors that are associated with
diabetes knowledge. |
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