Sociodemographic determinants of management behaviour of diabetic patients. Part I. Behaviour of patients in relation to management of their disease.

We studied 300 randomly chosen diabetic patients to assess their behaviours in relation to management of their disease. The majority had very good compliance with regular periodic check-ups (97.0%), urine and blood screening for sugar (94.3% and 96.0% respectively), adherence to the prescribed medicines (78.3%) and foot-care practices (75.0%). However, 35.3% and 39.0% had poor compliance with regard to checking their blood pressure and weight monitoring. Among smokers, 30.2% stopped smoking and 42.2% decreased the amount smoked after being diagnosed with the disease. Dietary compliance was either satisfactory or very good for most patients.