A number of studies investigated the general practitioners' and family physicians' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) on diabetes. However, studies on internists' KAP on diabetes management are limited. This study aimed to investigate the Iranian internists' KAP on diabetes mellitus and its management.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of internists who participated in the 26th annual congress of internists in Tehran, Iran. The level of KAP and affecting factor was evaluated by a validated instrument.

One-hundred internists with the mean age of 41.98±9.26 years were evaluated. Totally, the physicians possessed 66.29%±19.5%, 50.44%±19.39%, and 64.5%±15.3% of the scores in KAP, respectively. The time since graduation in general medicine had significant negative correlation with their knowledge and practice, that was along with the subjects' age (P<0.05). The KAP level had not significant difference between subjects participated in a continuing medical education (CME) program during the last year compared to subjects did not participated (P>0.05). Attitude, and practice scores were significantly higher in physicians who were working at diabetes clinic (P<0.05), and attitude was more in physicians working at teaching hospitals compared to those who were not working (57.82 vs. 47.72, P=0.020).

According to our results, subjects' age and time since graduation in general medicine and specialty were inversely correlated by knowledge and practice. So internists with older age seems to be in priority for educational programs. And holding CME programs in current forms seems to be not suitable to increase the KAP regarding diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease and one of the main causes of mortality in developing countries. The main objective of treating all chronic diseases, of course, is to improve well-being and attain a satisfactory quality of life (QOL). The major goal of this study is comparison of attitude toward QOL in insulin-dependent subjects with diabetes mellitus and healthy subjects.

In this study, insulin-dependent subjects with diabetes mellitus and healthy subjects were gathered via convenience sampling. The subjects were asked to complete the Hanestad & Albrektsen Attitude to Quality of Life Questionnaire. The questionnaire evaluates five quality of life dimensions-physical, social, mental-emotional, behavioral-activity, and economic-using a scoring system similar to the Likert scale. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare scores between the two groups.

The mean total score on attitude toward QOL in the healthy control group was 53.8, and it in the insulin-dependent subjects with diabetes mellitus group was 35.9. The mean total score of attitude toward QOL in the physical dimension, mental-emotional and feelings of well-being dimension, and behavioral-activity dimension were significantly higher in the healthy population than they were in diabetes mellitus groups. Such a difference was not seen in the social and economic dimensions.

Since the attitudes of insulin-dependent subjects with diabetes mellitus toward QOL are used as an index of individual and societal health levels, it appears that this group may benefit from education and professional counseling to improve their QOLs.