IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences (IOSR-JDMS) e-ISSN: 2279-0853, p-ISSN: 2279-0861.Volume 13, Issue 9 Ver. VI (Sep. 2014), PP 76-80 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 76 | Page Foot-Care Activities among Type II Diabetic Patients at Merjan Teaching Hospital, Al-Hilla City Ali Hussein Alwan 1 ; Ameer Alhusuny 2 1 Associate Professor Ali Hussein Alwan Internal Medicine, Diabetology and Endocrinology M.B.Ch.B, F.I.C.M Department of Medicine College of Medicine/ University of Babylon 2 Lecturer AmeerAlhusuny Occupational Health and Epidemiology M.B.Ch.B, MSc Department of Community Medicine College of Medicine/ University of Babylon Abstract: Background: Foot care is one of the most important ways for patients with diabetes type II toavoid complications by proper and functioning foot care. Aim of Study: to assess foot care knowledge among Type II DM patients as well as to find the mean difference of foot care assessment score by patie nts’ socio-demographic characteristics and medical history in a cross-sectional study at Merjan Teaching Hospital in Al-Hilla City. Materials and Methods: Ahospital-based cross sectional study design was carried out on (200) patients with Type II DM seen between January 2014 and June 2014in Merjan Teaching Hospital.Categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. Continuous variables were presented as mean with their 95% confidence interval (CI) and standard deviation. Independent sample t-test was used to compare means between two groups. One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare among more than two groups. A p- value of ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant .Results: The results showed that, Out of 200 patients with Type II DM, the overall mean score of foot care assessment was (51.16± 8.32). Mean age of DM patients was (51.82± 11.57) years old. There was no significant mean difference between the age of male (53.07± 12.9) years old and mean age of female (51.33± 11.24) t=0.961, df= 198, p= 0.338. (64.0%) of patients belonged to urban area, meanwhile, (80.0%) of patients were married. (40.0%) of patients completed their primary schools study. (56.0%) were not employed and (46.0%) of patients had enough family income. (85.5%) of patients had family members offered care for them. (52.0%) of patients were severed from the diseases for less than five years, meanwhile, (68.5%) of DM patients did not admitted to emergency room because of elevated blood sugar. (40.0%) of DM patients had pain in their feet and (82.0%) were not smokers.Higher rate was for DM patients who wash their feet. On other hand, higher rate was for DM patients wear sandal.There were significant mean difference of foot care assessment score by marital status, educational level, duration of disease, previous admission to emergency room and foot problem. Conclusion: There was an overall good foot care among DM type II patients in Merjan Teaching Hospital. There was no difference between men and women concerning all foot care activities, meanwhile, single were better than married DM patients about their foot care. Key words: Type II Diabetes Mellitus(DM), Foot care, Foot problem I. Introduction Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Type II is account for approximately 90% of all diabetes patients. It is a systemic chronic and severe disease characterized by elevated plasma glucose [1] . Type II DM is a disease of ineffective use of produced insulin and/ or inadequate pancreas insulin production [2] . It is a disease of difficult diagnosis, however, some patients may not have any symptoms or their symptoms develop very slowly [3] . There is dramatic increase in prevalence of DM Type II worldwide from 171 million in 2000 until a predicted of 366 million in 2030. However, this increment has been attributed to growing population of people over 65 years old, physical inactivity, urbanization as well as prevalent obesity [4] . Although, the disease is most common in Europe and the USA, but there is large increases have been expected in the developing countries, especially in South-East Asia [1] . The prevalence of long term complications of Type II DM may increase if there is deficient health care system such as in developing countries [5] . DM affects the circulation and immune system, which in turn impairs the body’s ability to heal itself. Over time, DM patients are less likely to feel feet injury, such as a blister or cut as a result of DM damage to their sensory nerves and leads to neuropathy. So far, unnoticed and untreated, foot injuries can quickly become infected and leading to serious complications such as amputations of toes, foot or legs [6] , which can lead to loss of quality of life, and economical burden in terms of disability and health care loss [7 and 8] . Getting optimal foot care and also intensive glycemic control may help to reduce the diabetic foot complications, improves survival and it is also cost-effective [9] . DM patients need intensive foot care involves