title: A questionnaire based survey on awareness of diabetic foot care in Indian population with diabetes: a cross-sectional multicentre study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find awareness regarding foot care in Indian population with diabetes in various parts of India.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study design was used to perform a multicenter, national level survey from August, 2011 to February, 2012 in various parts of India. Descriptive analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16. Awareness levels for diabetic foot care were calculated as absolute frequencies and were reported as overall percentages. Spearman test was used to find the correlation for foot problems and diabetic foot care with socioeconomic status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 323 peoples were screened (there were 222 men and 101 women in the study with a mean age of 58.2 ± 8.6 years). 8.7% of men reported ulcer during the 1 st year of onset of diabetes, where as 8.3% of women were prone for ulcers in 16-20 years of diabetes, 56.4% of the population in urban area and 46.6% of the population in the rural area had been educated regarding foot care in diabetes. However, only 30.5% of population in urban areas and 9.7% of population in the rural areas knew about the importance of shoe selection in diabetes. Spearman's correlation was significant for foot problems with family income and educational status, P = 0.03 and P = 0.02 respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need to bridge the disparity in awareness regarding diabetic foot management in Indian masses. More aggressive measures are required to implement current preventive foot care strategies in India.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal University, Karnataka, India. snehildixit83@gmail.com
authors.forename: Snehil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dixit
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maiya
authors.forename: Himanshu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khetrapal
authors.forename: Binita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vidyasagar
authors.forename: Shashikiran
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Umakanth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017719:Diabetic Foot / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult