Prevalence and association of various socio-clinical variables with diabetes distress in a rural diabetic population of Jammu District, India

Authors

  • Burhan Hameed Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
  • Sakshi Manhas Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
  • Rishab Gupta Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
  • Chaitanya Kailu Department of Community Medicine, Acharya Shri Chander College of Medicine Sciences, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
  • Urvi Gupta Department of Clinical Psychology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Rashmi Kumari Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
  • Rajiv K. Gupta Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20252863

Keywords:

Diabetes distress, Diabetes mellitus, Rural

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus, a chronic metabolic disorder, affects both the physical and mental health of a diabetic patient. Diabetic distress includes feelings of worry, fear, guilt and frustration regarding the complexity and management of diabetes. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of diabetes distress and the association of socio-clinical variables with diabetes distress in rural diabetic patients.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among diabetic patients aged 20 years and above in the R.S. Pura block, which is a field practice area of the PG department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Jammu. After collecting socio-demographic and clinical data, the diabetes distress scale (DDS-17) was administered to assess the diabetic distress among the participants. Chi-Square was the test of significance used.

Results: The prevalence of diabetes distress in this rural diabetic population was found to be 32.68%. Among the socio-demographic variables, gender, age, religion, literacy levels, family history of diabetes, etc., were significantly associated with diabetes distress (p<0.05). The clinical variables significantly associated with diabetes distress were BMI, presence of co-morbidities, duration of diabetes and treatment modality (p<0.05).

Conclusions: Almost one-third of this rural diabetic study population was suffering from diabetes distress, which clearly reflects that, irrespective of place of residence, diabetes distress is increasingly becoming a cause of concern. So, early screening of diabetic patients for distress is advised to take remedial steps at the incipient stages.

 

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Anjana RM, Unnikrishnan R, Deepa M, Pradeepa R, Tandon N, Das AK, et al. Metabolic non-communicable disease health report of India: the ICMR-INDIAB national cross-sectional study (ICMR-INDIAB-17). Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2023;11(7):474-89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(23)00119-5

IDF Diabetes Atlas. India diabetes report 2000-2045. Available at: https://diabetesatlas.org/ data/en/country/93/in.html. Accessed 01 July 2025.

Nicolucci A, Rossi MC, Pellegrini F, Lucisano G, Pintaudi B, Gentile S, et al. Benchmarking network for clinical and humanistic outcomes in diabetes (BENCH-D) study: protocol, tools, and population. SpringerPlus. 2014;3(1):1-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-83

Fisher L, Gonzalez JS, Polonsky WH. The confusing tale of depression and distress in patients with diabetes: a call for greater clarity and precision. Diabet Med. 2014;31(7):764-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.12428

Chew BH, Mohd-Sidik S, Shariff-Ghazali S. Negative effects of diabetes-related distress on health-related quality of life: an evaluation among the adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in three primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2015;13(1):187-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-015-0384-4

WH Polonsky, L Fisher, J Earles, RJ Dudl, J Lees, J Mullan. Assessing psychosocial distress in diabetes: development of the diabetes distress scale. Diabetes Care. 2005;28(3):626-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2337/diacare.28.3.626

Perrin NE, Davies MJ, Robertson N, Snoek FJ, Khunti K. The prevalence of diabetes-specific emotional distress in people with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabet Med. 2017;34(11):1508-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.13448

Ranjan R, Rajput M, Sachdeva A, Saha A, Jyotsana, Yadav K. Prevalence of diabetes distress and cross-cultural reliability of DDS-17 scale in rural Haryana. J Family Med Prim Care. 2023;12(9):2064-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_496_23

Patra S, Patro BK, Padhy SK, Mantri J. Prevalence of diabetes distress and its relationship with self-management in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ind Psychiatry J. 2021;30(2):234-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ipj.ipj_60_19

Vidya KR, Lohit K, Roopashree S. Diabetes distress and disease-related factors in patients with type 2 diabetes attending a tertiary care hospital. Natl J Physiol Pharm Pharmacol. 2021;11(8):880-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5455/njppp.2021.11.06194202115062021

Purushottaman S, Joshi A, Dalal D, Fahad M, Rao N, Gore S, et al. Prevalence of diabetes distress and its psychosocial determinants among Indian population with type II diabetes. Int J Res Med Sci 2024;12:789-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20240519

Ratnesh, Shivaprasad KS, Kannan S, Khadilkar KS, Sravani GV, Raju R. Identifying the burden and predictors of diabetes distress among adult type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Ind J Commu Med. 2020;45(4):497-500. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_533_19

Aliuaid MO, Almutairi AM, Assiri MA, Dhifallah MA, Khaled A. Diabetes related distress assessment among type 2 Diabetes patients. J Diabet Res. 2018;26:1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/7328128

Hemavathi P, Satyavani K, Smina TP, and Vijay V. Assessment of diabetes related distress among subjects with type 2 diabetes in South India. Int J Psychol Counsel. 2019;11(1):1-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5897/IJPC2018.0551

Bruijnes M, Kesteloo M, Brinkman WP. Reducing social diabetes distress with a conversational agent support system: a three-week technology feasibility evaluation. Front Digit Health. 2023;5:1149374. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2023.1149374

Gong E, Baptista S, Russell A, Scuffham P, Riddell M, Speight J, et al. My diabetes coach, a mobile app-based interactive conversational agent to support type 2 diabetes self-management: randomized effectiveness-implementation trial. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(11):e20322. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/20322

Verma N, Vasan P, Bafna V, Verma R, Ranadive R, Malde F, et al. Evaluating diabetes related distress in people with Type 2 DM – Insights from Diabefly Digital Therapeutics Platform. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2022;186:e109488. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2022.109488

Downloads

Published

2025-08-30

How to Cite

Hameed, B., Manhas, S., Gupta, R., Kailu, C., Gupta, U., Kumari, R., & Gupta, R. K. (2025). Prevalence and association of various socio-clinical variables with diabetes distress in a rural diabetic population of Jammu District, India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 12(9), 4131–4136. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20252863

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles