Relationship between the level of knowledge and healthy lifestyle practices in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus hospitalized in the General Medicine area of a Peruvian hospital: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. Of the 422 million people living with diabetes worldwide, over 95% have type 2 diabetes. If not properly controlled, there are short- and long-term complications. In addition to pharmacological treatment, the practice of healthy lifestyles plays a fundamental role in the management of the disease. The objective was to determine the relationship between the level of knowledge and healthy lifestyle practices in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus hospitalized in the General Medicine area of a Peruvian hospital. Methodology: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 114 patients. The level of knowledge and lifestyle practices were determined through self-administered questionnaires. To determine the relationship between the two categorical variables, the Chi-squared test was applied, and a p-value of <0.05 was considered indicative of significance. Results: 50% of the participants had a regular level of knowledge, while the other 50% had a poor level of knowledge. Regarding lifestyle practices, 62.3% had an unfavourable lifestyle. Statistical analyzes indicate that there is no statistically significant association (p=0.131) between the level of knowledge about diabetes mellitus and the practice of lifestyles. Conclusions: No statistically significant relationship was identified between the level of knowledge about the disease and lifestyle practices. Future studies are suggested to corroborate whether these results are similar in other hospital centers. Knowing the relationship between these variables would help designtimely and effective interventions for these patients.