title: Knowledge, attitudes and practice of diabetes in rural Bangladesh: the Bangladesh Population based Diabetes and Eye Study (BPDES).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice (KAP) amongst the general community regarding type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in rural Bangladesh.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was collected using cluster random sampling from 3104 adults residing in a rural district in Bangladesh. Participants underwent a KAP questionnaire survey regarding assessing diabetes, socio-demographic and medical history. Descriptive, Chi-square and regression analyses were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants were aged between 30 and 89 years (M = 51, SD= 11.8) and 65.5% were female. The prevalence of diabetes was found to be 8.3%. The majority (93%) reported to have heard of diabetes, yet only 4% knew what a glucose tolerance test was. Only 50% reported that they knew physical inactivity was a risk factor. Age, gender, level of education and socio-economic status (SES) were significantly associated with KAP. A lower proportion (41%) of older participants (aged ≥65 years) reported that they knew that dietary modifications assist in diabetes control compared to those aged less than 35 years (69%), p<0.001. Males (β = 0.393, 95% CI = 0.142-0.643), and any level of education compared to no schooling (β = 0.726, 95% CI = 0.596, 0.857) reported significantly more knowledge, after multivariate adjustments for covariates. Participants aged under 35 years, (odds ratio (OR)= 1.73, 95% CI = 1.22-2.43) had significantly higher positive attitudes towards treatments of diabetes compared to those aged ≥65 years. Of the 99 people with known diabetes, more than 50% (n = 52) never had their blood sugar levels checked since diagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Knowledge of diabetes and its risk factors is very limited in rural Bangladesh, even in persons diagnosed with type 2 DM. The development of public health programmes to increase knowledge of diabetes and its complications is required to assist people living in rural Bangladesh to control and management of diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Data Science and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia; Organisation for Rural Community Development, Dariapur, Narail, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Fakir M Amirul
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Organisation for Rural Community Development, Dariapur, Narail, Bangladesh; Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chakrabarti
authors.affiliation: Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dirani
authors.affiliation: Organisation for Rural Community Development, Dariapur, Narail, Bangladesh; Department of Physics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: M Tauhidul
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Avondale College of Higher Education, Cooranbong, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ormsby
authors.affiliation: Organisation for Rural Community Development, Dariapur, Narail, Bangladesh; Narail Diabetes Hospital and Narail Diabetes Shamity, Narail, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wahab
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Data Science and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Critchley
authors.affiliation: Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Finger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires