Understanding Awareness of Diabetes Complications in Disadvantaged Communities in India: An Indian Perspective

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus has becomes a significant public health issue. It causes a serious threat on health in India, especially among the people who are socioeconomically challenged and living under the condition of poverty, lack toaccess healthcarefacility, and also have less literacy levels. According to the International Diabetes Federation (2021), approximately 9 crore Indian are having diabetes, and this number significantly increase by 2050. Empirical results from the previous studies such as the ICMR-INDIAB Study (2017–2023) and NFHS-5 (2019–21) suggested that there is asignificant gapswhich leads the awareness of diabetes complications, especially among theresidents of urban slums populations and socioeconomically weak communities. Lack of sufficient knowledge on neuropathy, retinopathy and cardiovascular risks are part of the reasons behind delayed treatment and diagnosis. Awareness levels are thus vital to be comprehended so as to implement community-based, inclusive prevention methods and curtail preventable complications of diabetes in vulnerable groups.
Objective
The research includes the analysis of awareness levels among the low socioeconomic population in India in diabetes mellitus complications, thisresearch uses national survey information, including, the ICMR-INDIAB survey and NFHS-5, and the results also constitute study of a community-based comparative survey among 200 participants selected through lowincome level urban communities.
Methodology
This research is based on community based cross-sectionaland also a comparative research was done among 200 participants (100 diabetic and 100 non-diabetic) insocioeconomically disadvantaged areas of Bahraich, district of Uttar Pradesh. The response wasreceived using a pre-tested semi-structured set of questions through directly askingquestion from the residents of those areas by door to door visit. The response received from the respondent of the area are statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. Statistical analysis wasalso done by the help of Chi-square test which is a statistical method used to determine if there is a major difference between observed value and expected values of frequencies in categorical variables and the two-proportion Z-test, which is compares proportions from two independent, random samples to determine if they differ significantly andthe p-value < 0.05 considered significant at the 0.05 level.
Result
The sample having 200 participants (100 diabetic and 100 non-diabetes) was used in the research where it was selected as an urban low socioeconomic community of Bahraich city. Samples were comparable as there was no statistical difference in gender selection (χ2 = 0.51, p =0.47),. The awareness among diabetic and non-diabetic study group on the complications of diabetes was 42% and 41%, respectively. Chi-square test revealed no significant relationship between awareness level and diabetes status (χ2 = 0.00, df = 1 and p = 1.0). This indicates that the presence only of diabetes does not increase the level of awareness about its complications; but rather, socioeconomic status, low education and less access to health information are responsible for knowledge.