Publications

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) develops when the pancreas fails to produce adequate insulin orwhen the body can't efficiently utilize the insulin produced. Insulin, a hormone from thepancreas, aids glucose in leaving the bloodstream and entering cells for energy. Thisresearch aimed to gauge the prevalence and factors linked to non-compliance with dietaryguidance among type 2 diabetic patients at Jinja regional referral hospital. Conducting across-sectional study incorporating qualitative and quantitative data, researchers employedself-administered and investigator-led questionnaires through convenience sampling,studying 191 participants with a 78.0% response rate and focusing on 149 respondents.The study revealed that 51.1% of respondents were female, 48.9% were male, with anaverage age of 38 years (standard deviation: 9.62 years). The prevalence of non-adherenceto dietary recommendations among type 2 diabetic patients stood at 14.8%. This nonadherencewas significantly correlated with various factors: female gender (correlationcoefficient: 0.947*, P=0.021), increasing age (correlation coefficient: 0.286*, P=0.002), andnegligence (P=0.027* with a 2-tailed test at 95% confidence level, P<0.05). These findingsunderscore a concerning trend: a substantial percentage of diabetic individuals are notfollowing dietary advice provided by healthcare professionals. Factors such as gender, age,and familial relation to type 2 diabetes were significantly associated with the lack ofadherence to dietary recommendations.Keywords: prevalence, diet, type 2 diabetic patients