Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of foot-care knowledge amongst patients attending the diabetes clinic at Pretoria Academic Hospital, by comparing the knowledge of patients with “at risk” feet (ARF) to those with “normal/not at risk” feet (NARF) and so assess whether the education effort by the clinic is effective.

Methods: Patients attending the clinic completed an interviewer assisted questionnaire with 11 questions concerning foot-care knowledge. A knowledge score for each patient was calculated.

Results: The maximum possible score was 11 and ranged from 4 to 11. The mean score of the ARF group was 8.9 (sd 1.4) (range 4-11) compared to 8.9 (sd1.4) for the NARF group (range 5-11) (P>0.05). The most substantial difference between the two groups was that the ARF group gave 20% more correct answers than the NARF group with regards to frequency of foot inspection (daily) (p=0.025).

Conclusions: Both groups of patients had a reasonable knowledge regarding foot-care. The patients at risk were more aware of the need for daily foot inspection.