Health care seeking behaviors among Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Bangladesh

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder with significant social, health, and economic consequences. Globally, Type 2 diabetes affects 463 million people, with a projected increase to 629 million by 2045. This number is estimated to increase to 430 million in the absence of better control or cure. Diabetes health care seeking behavior plays an important role in reducing the incidence of disease, disability and death by improving knowledge. The aim of this study was to assess the health care seeking behaviors among type-2 diabetes mellitus patients in Bangladesh. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study participants were type 2 diabetes patients admitted in Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka. A total of 112 patients were participated in this study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample. The questionnaire consists of two parts. Part 1 contains questions regarding. Socio-demographic Information questionnaire, Disease related Questionnaires and Health Care Seeking Behaviors Questionnaire were used to describe the patients characteristics and health care seeking behaviors. Data was collected from February to March, 2023. Data was analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 20. The mean age of the Type 2 DM patients was 51.49±11.63 years old. In the event of illness symptoms nearly half of the patients (49.1 %) visit to a doctor initially, 88.4% patients visit to a doctor after exacerbation of symptoms. In addition, 54% patients consult with general practitioner, 43.8% Type 2 DM patients visit and receive the services from the public health center, 77% patients not regular referring to the doctor, 7.5 5 % visit the doctor in a follow up basis if needed and 83% patients received information from the physician frequently. Gender, religion, marital status, education, occupation, residence, family type, duration of the disease, current treatment and blood sugar were statistically significantly correlated with health care seeking behaviors(p<0.05). Regular consultation with a health care provider or visiting a healthcare center might help to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh.