Knowledge and Associated Factors of Diabetes Mellitus among HIV Clients Living with Diabetes in Eastern Uganda: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Poor diabetes knowledge among diabetes clients living with HIV remains a big public health challenge in Africa. Effective self-management of diabetes requires clients to be knowledgeable about the recommended diets, exercises, drugs, lifestyle modifications, and possible diabetes complications. The proportion of diabetes clients living with HIV with poor diabetes knowledge is on the rise in Eastern Uganda. Poor level of diabetes knowledge among clients is a serious threat to individual health, and Knowledge is essential for effective control of diabetes, as it allows the patient to play an active and cooperative role in planning and monitoring the therapeutic, which promotes informed decisions

Aim: This study, conducted from May to June 2024, assessed the level of diabetes knowledge and its associated factors among diabetes clients living with HIV in Eastern Uganda.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mbale and Soroti Regional Referral Hospitals in Eastern Uganda from May to June 2024.

Materials and Methods: The sample size was 267 registered participants though ten didn’t participate. Random sampling was done to select eligible registered participants. Electronic data collection was done by trained research assistants under the supervision of the principal investigator. All the research assistants were trained in data quality management. Ethical approval was obtained from Busitema University REC. The diabetes knowledge questionnaire was used to gather the data, and Stata version 14 was used for analysis. Univariate analysis and Binary logistic regression were used to identify associated factors. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant at a 95% confidence interval.

Results: A total of 257 participants in Mbale and Soroti Hospitals participated in this study. The majority 152(59.1%) were females and 156(60.7%) of these participants were above the age of 50 years. The married were 59.1%. Only 20.2% had tertiary education. More than half (58.4%) had a below-average level of knowledge regarding diabetes, 78.2% did not know how diabetes is managed and 58.4% were not aware of the common diabetes complications. In addition, 49.80% were not knowledgeable about the recommended diabetes tests, and 46.30% were not knowledgeable about the diets.

Conclusions: The level of knowledge about diabetes is low among diabetes people living with HIV at Mbale and Soroti Hospitals in Eastern Uganda. No factor was found to be significantly associated with low diabetes knowledge. Routine diabetes education by the facility's health workers is encouraged and the focus should be on recommended diabetes tests, diets, drugs and possible complications.

Contribution: Identifies specific areas to be strengthened in diabetes education.