Medication Adherence and Its Associated Factors among Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Introduction: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder of carbohydrates, fats and proteins characterized by hyperglycemia, where a beta cells of pancreas either donot secrete enough insulin or resist to the produce insulin. Objective: To determine the factors influencing adherence to anti-diabetic medication among type-2 diabetes patients. Method: The study was descriptive cross- sectional and 196 type-2 diabetes patients were enrolled by purposive sampling technique. Adherence level was screened with the Morisky Green Levine 4 item (MGL-4 item) Results: A total of 196 respondents (mean age55.34±12.98). Analysis of MGL-4 item scores of patients showed that 38.3% had poor adherence level, 61.7% had moderate adherence level and none of the respondents were found to have high level of adherence with prescribed anti-diabetic medications. The variables like age, gender, marital status, educational, occupation, comorbid conditions, forgetfulness, pill burden, busy schedule, high cost, different brands, were not found significantly associated with medication adherence (P>0.05) however, majority of the patients were found to have forgetfulness (15.8%) followed by forgetfulness plus busy schedule (13.3%). However, age was found significantly associated with glycemic control (HbA1c level). Conclusion: A low to moderate adherence level was observed in the study which needs to be recognized and improved through general adherence advocacy. Keywords: Anti-diabetic drugs, Diabetes Mellitus, Glycemic control, Medication adherence