. Gowshik M. Siddharthan; . Mahendra M. Reddy; . Bagepally N. Sunil
Volume 11, Issue 1 , January 2021, , Pages 1-8
Abstract
BACKGROUND: “Stress” acts as both etiological link and also as an outcome in the case of diabetesmellitus. There is a paucity of literature regarding stress levels and also ...
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BACKGROUND: “Stress” acts as both etiological link and also as an outcome in the case of diabetesmellitus. There is a paucity of literature regarding stress levels and also factors associated with itamong diabetic patients in India.OBJECTIVE: To assess the perceived stress levels and their associated factors among diabeticinpatients in a rural tertiary health care center, South India.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Afacility‑based cross‑sectional analytical study was conducted amonginpatient diabetics seeking care at a rural tertiary care center in Kolar district of Karnataka. Apre‑testedsemi‑structured questionnaire was used to capture the sociodemographic, disease‑related,treatment‑related and behavior‑related characteristics of the inpatients. The outcome of “perceivedstress” was captured using a standard questionnaire of Cohen Perceived Stress Scale–10. Poissonregression was used for multivariable analysis, and the association was expressed as prevalenceratio with 95% confidence intervals (CI).RESULTS: Out of the 247 study participants analysed, “perceived stress” was seen among 97 (39.3%)of the participants (95% CI: 33.3%–45.5%). Multivariable analysis showed that factors like youngerage, lesser duration of diabetes, presence of any comorbidity, being underweight, having conflictsat work place/home in the last 1 month, and not having enough money for treatment had shownhigher levels of “perceived stress.”CONCLUSION: About two out of five inpatient diabetics seeking care from rural tertiary health centreshad shown to have “perceived stress.” There is a need for the inclusion of stress managementtechniques in the diabetes education program at all levels of health‑care systems.
