Impact of Adherence on Treatment Outcomes in Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is still a burden in Indonesia. Failure of treatment may cause the worsening of this disease. This study aimed to define the association between patient adherence and treatment outcomes. We used a cross-sectional design with data from a public hospital in Java. We collected the patients’ characteristics, medical treatments and treatment outcomes from their medical records. The inclusion criteria were adult diabetes mellitus patients without any comorbidities or complications and using antidiabetic medicine (oral and/or injection). The patients’ adherence was assessed using the MARS questionnaire. We recruited 167 subjects from the hospital. Most of the subjects were male (60.0%), the average age was 60.47 (SD: 10.80), 43.7% had single treatment and 50.3% did not adhere. 58.7% subjects had uncontrolled fasting blood glucose (FBG) and 86.6% subjects had uncontrolled HbA1C. After adjusting for subjects’ characteristics, there was a significant association between FBG and adherence. Adherence may increase FBG by as much as 1.95 times (95% CI: 1.04- 3.65). We also found a significant association between adherence and the treatment outcome. Thus, we recommend that health care for diabetes mellitus patients must be complemented with education to increase adherence and improve outcomes. Keywords: diabetes, adherence, treatment outcomes