Patient Related Factors of Poor Drug Compliance among Type 2 Diabetes Patients Attending to the Endocrinology Clinic at the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a complex and common non communicable disease which is associated with macro and micro vascular complications involving increased morbidity and mortality among all age groups worldwide. The poor compliance of medication leads to management failure and there are many factors which influence patient‟s compliance. Numbers of patient related factors have been described in the literature in different geographical, ethnic and regional populations. Objectives: To identify the patient related factors associated with poor compliance of antidiabetic medication among T2D patients attending the Endocrinology clinic, Teaching Hospital Karapitiya. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among T2D patients attending the Endocrinology clinic in Teaching Hospital Karapitiya. Data were collected using an interviewer based questionnaire. Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) scores were used to determine the compliance associated with antidiabetic medication. Results: The cohort of 364 T2D patients were interviewed for the study of which majority was females (65.9%). The level of poor compliance to medication was found in 79.9% of subjects. Among study subjects, 80.2% were employed in public and private sectors, 141(38.7%) had monthly income of less than Rs. 25,000 and 231 subjects (63.4%) were living in urban environments. Among study sample, age, gender, ethnicity, religion and monthly income did not associate with poor drug compliance while the civil state (p=0.010), educational level (p=0.037), type of employment (p=0.0001) were significantly associated. Conclusions: Majority of the patients had poor compliance level to anti-diabetic medication. Therefore, the results of this study provided important evidence-based information to improve knowledge regarding patient related factors for poor drug compliance among T2D patients.