Abstract
Background Diabetic foot complications are major health problems with substantial morbidity and mortality. Our study measured the frequency of patient-reported diabetes-related foot problems and foot self-care practices among Sudanese individuals with diabetes. Methodology This was a cross-sectional health facility-based study conducted at Abdallah Khalil Diabetes Center, Khartoum state, Sudan. Data was collected in the period from January to March, 2021. A convenience sample of 194 Sudanese diabetic patients, aged 20 and above were enrolled in this study. A pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, patient-reported foot problems and foot self-care practices. Results 194 patients were included in this study, mean diabetes duration 10.20±8.07 years, 60.3% were females, 47.4% were unemployed and 28.9% were illiterate. 80.4% reported having at least one or more sensory peripheral neuropathy symptoms, 36.6% reported one or more peripheral vascular disease symptoms in the previous month, and 29.4% had a history of foot ulceration. Reported foot self-care practices were suboptimal; poor scores were reported by 40.7%, average scores by 55.2%, while only 4.1% attained good scores. 52.5% never or rarely examined the bottom of their feet on a daily basis.HbA1c was found to be predictive of foot ulceration (p value 0.038), while duration and peripheral vascular disease were found to be predictive of amputations. (p value 0.001 and 0.021, respectively). Conclusion Diabetes related foot complications were frequently reported by our study participants, yet adoption of preventive foot self-care practices was of average levels. This highly suggests that continuous health education should be regularly provided to diabetic patients.