Title:Glucose Tolerance: Hypothesis Testing on Malaysian Diabetic Community
Volume: 10
Issue: 5
Author(s): Syed Wasif Gillani, Yelly Oktavia Sari, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman and Mirza R. Baig
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Diabetes mellitus, dietary intake, glycated haemoglobin, home care, physical activity, self-monitoring blood glucose.
Abstract: Our study objective was to evaluate glucose tolerance and effecting factors among diabetes patients’ with home
care program (PHCP) in Malaysian community. A 24-week longitudinal quasi-experimental -single blind - pre/post-test
study design was used to assess the effectiveness of a diabetes education program to enhance self-care practices. An attrition
rate of 25% implied longitudinal design of the study in the calculation of sample size. Hence the sample size of the
study was 106 subjects (53 cases and 53 focus group). The level of significance was set at 0.05. Ethical clearance had
been made prior to conducting this study. Of the 109 subjects who met the study-entry criteria, 3 subjects declined to participate
due to lack of time and interest. No significant parameters were revealed in the demographic and clinical characteristics
of participants who completed the study. Focus group showed significant reduction in HbA1c value with mean
1.1% as compared to cases with a mean 0.06%. Similarly, hypothesis on self-care management suggest significantly improved
practices among focus group [M=2.94, SD=2.25] for case group M=0.47, SD=1.36; t[127.64]=-8.23, p≤0.001]
with moderate effect size [eta squared=0.06]. Total physical activity was defined as the combination of non-leisure and
leisure activities. There was a statistically significant difference for increase in total physical levels between the focus
[M=14.01, SD=6.41] and case groups [13.21, SD=5.22; t[148.04]=-3.15, p=0.002] with no difference in the non-leisure
activity [p=0.43]. As for the case group, there was no significant difference in SMBG practices from baseline [M=0.70,
SD=1.35] to follow-up [M=0.47, SD=1.36, t[72]=0.97, P=0.34] and no relationship was found between the number of
blood glucose tests done with demographic or clinical variables. This study offered improved self-care practices and
physical activity after PHCP but with problematic dietary care. This might be due to social and cultural habits among Malaysian
population.