Abstract:
Background: Dietary adherence is the cornerstone and initial recommendation in diabetes mellitus management despite enormous setbacks in its implementation. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the dietary adherence and associated factors among patients with diabetes mellitus attending the diabetic clinic of Jimma Medical Center.
Methods and materials: A facility-based cross-sectional study design was conducted at Jimma Medical Center from May 2nd to May 28, 2022. A total of 422 diabetes patients were selected through a simple random sampling method. The data were collected using structured questionnaires through face-to-face interviews. Categorical and continuous data were described using descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, frequencies, and percentages. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the independent predictors of dietary adherence among patients with diabetes mellitus. Bivariate analysis was used to identify the candidate variables for multivariate analysis at p<0.25. Finally, a multivariate analysis was conducted to identify the independent predictors of dietary adherence at 𝑃-value ≤ 0.05. Result: A total of 411 study participants completed the study and 46% of them had a good level of dietary adherence. Living in rural area (AOR = 2.826, CI: 1.260, 6.338), housewife (AOR = 0.152, CI: 0.054, 0.434), being students (AOR = 0.019, CI: 0.002, 0.203) and lack of job (AOR = 0.057, CI: 0.005, 0.687) attending secondary school ( Grade 9-12)(AOR = 4.774, CI: 1.083, 21.964), living alone (AOR = 0.060, CI: 0.007, 0.489) and having systolic blood grade I HTN (AOR = 8.861, CI: 2.763, 28.416) significantly associated with dietary adherence among diabetic patients. Conclusion: Findings of this study showed one of every two diabetes patients practiced a good level of dietary adherence and it was significantly associated with living conditions, educational status, and dietary practices. Therefore, the health care system, along with other stakeholders should strengthen dietary adherence practices in line with their lifestyle, and further longitudinal research should be done to determine other possible factors.
