A cross-sectional study on the association between varied social support modalities and glycemic levels amongst diabetic patients residing in Machakos County, Kenya

Introduction: diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. While there's increasing evidence that social support from caregivers improves health outcomes in chronic illness management, the potential associations of the different types of social support and glycemic control among Type II diabetes clients have largely been ignored in Kenya. This cross-sectional study sought to establish the association between tangible, emotional, and informational social support and glycemic levels among clients diagnosed with Type II diabetes in Machakos County, Kenya. Methods: semi-structured interviews were conducted with 726 randomly selected Type II diabetes clients enrolled in diabetes care and treatment programs in government-owned public health facilities in Masinga and Matungulu sub-counties, Machakos, Kenya. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression were conducted to elucidate any associations. Results: seventy-three percent (73%) of the respondents were female, and 27% were male, with the majority (77.9%) being above 50 years and having lived with diabetes for over 3 years (61.5%). Opportunities for social support existed, with 62% of the respondents living with more than 2 persons above 18 in their households. From the Random Blood Glucose test analysis, 38.9% of the clients had high glycemic levels, partly because the majority (66.9%) of the respondents did not practice good diabetes self management practices at the time of the study. While all three types of social support were reported as provided, only 30.6% reported receiving adequate social support. An association was found between social support and glycemic levels with respondents receiving adequate informational-P<0.05, OR 1.92, emotional-P<0.05, OR 3.7, and tangible support-P<0.05, OR 4.1 more likely to have better glycemic control than those with inadequate support. Conclusion: clients receiving adequate informational, emotional, and tangible social support were 2, 4, and 4 times, respectively, likely to have better glycemic control than those with inadequate support. Of the three types of social support, tangible support was most needed. Ultimately, a greater understanding of these interactions through longitudinal studies is required to identify solutions and optimize glycaemic control for diabetes clients in Kenya and beyond.