Effect of advertising on awareness of symptoms of diabetes among the general public: the British Diabetic Association Study

BMJ 1994;308:632-636 (5 March)

Papers

Effect of advertising on awareness of symptoms of diabetes among the general public: the British Diabetic Association Study

B M Singh, J J W Prescott, R Guy, S Walford, M Murphy, P H Wise

Department of Endocrinology, Charing Cross Hospital, London W6 8RF Kilmartin-Baker Ltd, London WC2E 9OS Basingstoke District Hospital, Basingstoke RG24 9NA New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton WV10 0QP British Diabetic Association, London W1M 0BD Correspondence to: Dr Singh.

Abstract

Objective : To determine the impact of posters advertisingsymptoms of diabetes on public knowledge of these symptoms.
Design : Structured street interviews of members of the generalpublic before, at the end of, and 10 weeks after a campaignadvertising the main symptoms of diabetes.
Setting : Basingstoke and Wolverhampton. Subjects - Three samplesof 1000 members of the general public were interviewed. Sampleswere selected randomly but stratified to match the local population'sage (20 -75), sex, social class, and racial characteristics.
Main outcome measures : Knowledge of symptoms of diabetes;perceived seriousness of diabetes; and induction of anxietyabout symptoms in the target population.
Results : Advertising significantly raised knowledge (withoutprompting) of symptoms: thirst, 245 before v 411 at end of campaign(P<0.0001) v 341 after (P=0.0012 v before); polyuria, 72v 101 (P=0.0211) v 92 (P=0.5169); lethargy, 180 v 373 (P<0.0001)v 298 (P<0.0001); knowledge of weight loss and visual disturbancewas unaffected. The number of subjects lacking knowledge ofany symptoms was reduced from 550 to 388 (P<0.0001). Theperceived seriousness of diabetes was unaffected 20(mean 7.6in each phase on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very). Before advertising,449 (45%) claimed to have one or more symptoms of diabetes,but this number fell at the end of the campaign (403; P=0.0419)and 10 weeks afterwards (278; P<0.0001).
Conclusions : An advertising campaign raised public knowledgeof diabetes symptoms without inducing fear of diabetes or anxietyabout symptoms. Its potential for achieving earlier detectionof non-insulin dependent diabetes should be evaluated.

Clinical implications

Clinical implications
Patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes present late, despite prolonged symptoms before diagnosis, with a high prevalence of established micromacular and macrovascular disease
This may be because the knowledge base of symptoms of diabetes in the general population is poor
Poster based advertising of diabetes symptoms can be effective in educating the public without inducing fear of diabetes or anxiety about symptoms
Refining this approach may be a cost effective way of encouraging non-insulin dependent diabetic patients to present earlier

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

Screening for diabetes: Melanie Davies and John Day
BMJ 1994 308: 1160-1161. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Baker, H, Murdoch, I E (2008). Can a public health intervention improve awareness and health-seeking behaviour for glaucoma?. Br J Ophthalmol 92: 1671-1675 [Abstract] [Full text]
Campbell, I. W (2001). Diabetes mellitus -- don't delay treatment. British Journal of Diabetes & Vascular Disease 1: 147-148
Davies, M., Day, J. (1994). Screening for diabetes. BMJ 308: 1160-1161 [Full text]
Home, P D (1994). Diagnosing the undiagnosed with diabetes. BMJ 308: 611-612 [Full text]