Background: Medical nutrition therapy can control blood sugars during early stage. Recognizing patients prone to non-compliance to diet-care is
of utmost importance. This study aimed to find the level of diabetic dietcare among adult diabetics in East Delhi.
Methods: In a cross sectional study, 150 adult diabetics in a resettlement colony of East Delhi were enrolled. Eight diabetics, each from all 21 subblocks were randomly sampled. Data was collected using diet items of revised Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities. Frequency of dietcare as number of days/week (0-7) and mean scores were calculated. The predictors of non-compliance were found using linear regression.
Results: Fifty-two subjects (30.9%) practiced diet control for all days/ week. Totally, 25.6% did not control their diet even for one day. Small proportion of 0-7.1% reported intake of >5 servings of fruits/vegetables. A total of 36.9% diabetics consumed high fat foods every day. The mean general diet scores ranged 0-7 with 25% not following diet-care even for a day. Special diet scores ranged 2-7 with 1.8% scoring 7. Absence of family support (p=0.022), treating with own funds (p=0.014) and inadequate advice on diet control (p=0.046) had inverse influence on general score, while being illiterate (p=0.028), and substance abuse (p=0.010) had
negative influence on specific diet score.
Conclusion: The overall diet-care among diabetics was low. The predictors of non-compliance were literacy status, family support, finances, advice on diet-care and substance abuse. Focussed nutritional assessment of diabetics and recommending diet should be done as a regular patient management strategy.