Non-adherence to Lifestyle (Diet and Exercise) Modification Recommendations among the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in a Tertiary Level Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Non-adherence to lifestyle recommendations among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients is a big challenge in management of those patients and increases the risk of serious complications like stroke, heart disease, retinopathy, peripheral nerve damage and renal problems compared to the general population.

Methods: A hospital based, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to identify non –adherence to life style modification recommendations among 104 type 2 diabetes patients in Kathmandu. Non- probability purposive sampling technique was used. Data were collected through interview by using structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 53.8 years (SD±11.0 and 51% were female. The prevalence of non adherence to diet and exercise were 52.9% and 67.3% respectively. The main reasons for non-adherence to diet were lack of family support (50.0%), outside eating habit (31.8%) and poor self control (22.7%). The main reasons for non-adherence to exercise were weather (45.5%), the perception that exercise exacerbated their illness (41.3%) and busy schedule (33.3%). Non-adherence to diet was significantly associated with family support and perception that proper diet plays role in management of diabetes. Non-adherence to exercise was significantly associated with family support, regular health checkup, the perception that exercise exacerbated their illness, received written instruction.

Conclusion: Non-adherence to diet and exercise recommendations was highly prevalent among type 2 DM patients and no single reason could be attributed to non-adherence to both diet and exercise recommendations.