BURDEN IMPOSED BY DIABETES MELLITUS ON ELDERLY PATIENTS VISITING A TEACHING HOSPITAL

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus (DM), a chronic metabolic disorder, has become an alarmingly a major health issue worldwide. Thus, the study aimed to assess the burden imposed by diabetes mellitus on elderly patients visiting Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital (LMCTH). Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 178 diabetic elderlies purposively visiting medicine out-patient department of LMCTH. Elderly Diabetes Burden Scale was used to assess the burden imposed by diabetes. Results: The mean(SD) age of the participants was 67.38(6.92) years, more than half(52.2%) were male, 46.6% were janajati and 77.5% were from Palpa district. Most(84.3%) had diabetes for duration of 1 to 10 years, 45.6% had normal body mass index(BMI), 47.2% had good glycaemic control (HbA1C <7%), and  74.2% were on oral hypo-glycaemic agents. Dietary restrictions (10.32±2.97) and worry about diabetes (10.30±2.85) were perceived as high burden level and burden by tablets/insulin (7.02±2.12) as lower burden amongst the six domains. Age, education and body mass index (BMI) were found to be highly statistically significant with the treatment dissatisfaction domain (p<0.001). Likewise, duration of diabetes (p=<0.001) with burden by tablets/insulin and symptom burden domain. Conclusion: Dietary restrictions and worry about diabetes were found to have dominant burden whereas, burden by tablets or insulin was the least. Duration of diabetes and body mass index (BMI) were found to have association with the overall burden. Likewise, age, education and BMI seems to have high influence on the perception of burden due to treatment dissatisfaction