The nonadherence to prescriptions among type 2 diabetes patients, and its determining factors

Abstract

Aim: The aim is to clarify the prevalence of nonadherence to antidiabetic therapies among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and identify its causes. Methods: A three-part questionnaire (general background, Knowledge-Attitude-Practice section, and non-adherence reasons) was developed. In total 324 diabetic patients were surveyed via telephone. The evaluation of patient adherence included both direct questions on adherence and a summary of patient responses to non-adherence comments. The analysis was performed on StataCorp Stata 14.2, and included descriptive analysis, simple and multivariate logistic regression. Findings: Among the sociodemographic variables, age group, work level, and alcohol consumption may influence medication adherence. The comorbidity status of patients was also of relevance. Both variables had stronger relationships with adherence to anti-diabetic treatments compared to those with no comorbidities or no additional medicines. A strength of the study is that it addresses various medical diseases and attitudes about them, as well as a wide range of causes for non-adherence to non-diabetic medications.