KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF PATIENTS REGARDING DIABETES AND HYPERTENSION CONTROL

Objective: To determine knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of diabetic and hypertensive patients regarding their disease and its management and to find out the association between Knowledge, attitude and practices of patients with other independent variables. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Rawalpindi, from September to December 2016. Data was collected from 160 diabetic and hypertensive patients who were attending medical OPD of CMH, Rawalpindi. Knowledge, attitude and practices of patients were assessed. Written Informed consent was taken from all patients and data was collected through an interview based questionnaire. Frequencies, percent- ages and p values were reported for the variables under study. Results: Knowledge of both hypertensive and diabetic patients was good with a percentage of 71% and 59% respectively. Practice scores of both groups were low, 51% for hypertensive and 42.5% for diabetic patients. On the contrary, the attitude scores of both groups were poor having a percentage of 42% and 34% respectively. A statistically significant association was observed between educa- tional status and knowledge of respondents. Conclusion: In spite of having adequate knowledge about the disease, practic- es and attitude of patients towards disease management were poor.