Knowledge that patients with type 2 diabetes has about their disease: systematic review

Introduction: An important risk factor to achieve an adequate control of a chronic disease is the knowledge that the patient has about his disease. Several studies have shown a relationship between the type 2 diabetes mellitus patient's knowledge and their treatment adherence or hemoglobin A1c levels. The objective of this article was to evaluate how much patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus know about their disease. Method: A systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted following the 2020 Prisma statement on the databases: Medline, Scopus, CINAHL and PsychINFO. Randomized clinical trials, quasi-experimental, cross-section-- al and control and case studies published until April 1 of 2024 were included. The screening, extraction, and the risk of bias assessment was done by 2 researchers independently. Results: 35 articles were included (29 cross-sectional, 4 randomized clinical trials and 2 quasi-experimental). The portion of patients with adequate knowledge of type 2 diabetes mellitus varies with the tool used to assess the knowledge, but in general, less than 45 % of the patients had adequate knowledge about their disease. Conclusions: This systematic review identified that most patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have a deficient knowledge of their disease, only 2 articles showed samples with adequate knowledge.