| dc.description.abstract | It is estimated that 463 million people were living with diabetes in 2019. This number is estimated to increase in two folds by 2045. Diabetes, being a chronic disease, needs frequent hospital visits and follow up by clinicians. These contacts mean costs to the patient. The increase in cost limits the hospital visits, medications purchase and laboratory investigations which leads to poor management and prognosis. The objective of this study was to assess the association between direct cost of care and glycaemic control of diabetes mellitus type 2 patients attending diabetic clinics in two mission hospitals in Kenya.We used a cross-sectional study design for this study. A Kirkwood formula was used to determine the sample size for this study which was 384 participants. Random sampling technique was used to obtain the study subjects. A structured cost of care questionnaire having questions on direct medical and direct-non-medical costs was used to collect data. Obtained data was analyzed using Microsoft excel and SPSS. Descriptive statistics entailed Frequency counts, mean median and percentages interquartile range while inferential statistics employed were. correlational and regression analysis. Most participants were aged over 60 with 21.6% being over 80 years. Mean total direct costs per visit was Kshs. 9,496.90 ± Kshs. 4,631.53 with drugs accounting for the larger proportion. Mean HbA1c and RBS values were established at 9.231% ± 2.4920% and 10.075 mmol/l ± 4.6503 mmol/l respectively. The direct cost of care of T2DM is still relatively high with a wide variation yet the levels of glycemic control are yet to be fully achieved in a larger proportion of diabetic type 2 patients. We recommend that Government should come up with ways to cushion patients with diabetes against high cost of medical care. | en_US |
