Text messaging and quality of life of diabetics in tertiary care hospital of Eastern Nepal

Background: Text messaging health service is used to improve quality of life of people living with diabetes in Eastern Nepal. It has been projected that the number of diabetic patients has increased to 170% from 1995 to 2025 in developing countries and to 41% in developed world. The objectives of the study were to assess the quality of life of people living with diabetes, to prepare and provide health education, and to evaluate the effectiveness of health education program and mobile/telephone health services provided to the diabetes patients. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among consecutive stable ambulatory patients, >18 years old, and 396 patients diagnosed with diabetes for at least 3 months were included in the study. The education intervention was continued for 6 months by the principal investigator and a trained nurse. Results: Most of the respondents (53.3%) were of the age group 40–60 years; female (59.34%); Hindus (97%); and of the Janjati ethnic group (52.5%). The majority (96.5%) were married and self-employed (70.7%). About 30% of the respondents belonged to the poor economic status group. Most of the respondents had type II diabetes mellitus; about 34% of the respondents had a family history of (sibling) diabetes. Most of them were non-vegetarians (88.9%). About 16% of the respondents were obese. Regarding habits, 14% had tobacco chewing, 5% had gutka chewing, 8% had smoking, and around 8% had alcohol consumption habits. Regarding treatment, about 84% were on oral hypoglycemic agent, 22% on insulin therapy, 68% on diet control therapy, 58% on weight control, and 4.5% on herbal therapy. It was found that the mean knowledge score before education intervention was 22.53 and after education intervention was 35.32. It was found that the difference in the mean score calculated using t-test between knowledge before and after education intervention program was significant (P < 0.01). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the education intervention program and SMS mobile service provided to diabetes patients were found to be very effective.