Abstract:
Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic progressive disease characterized by
numerous health complications. Medication adherence is an important determinant
of therapeutic outcome. The objective of this study was to assess hypoglycemic
medication adherence.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional web-based study. The
eight-item Morisky medication adherence scale was used to assess adherence.
Results: A convenience sample of 290 patients with diabetes was studied; of them,
10.7% had a high adherence, 34.5% had a medium adherence, and 54.8% had a low
adherence level. Adherence score was a positively and significantly correlated with
age (P < 0.05). Similar significant correlation was found between adherence level and
gender (P < 0.05). However, adherence was not significantly associated with diabetes
duration of disease (P > 0.05) and number of hypoglycemic medications (P >0.05).
Conclusion: The majority of patients with diabetes in this study had low adherence
rate. The three main factors may contribute to non-adherence to medication are nonadherence to regular follow-up in diabetes clinic, non-adherence to healthy diet, and
non-adherence to instruction to take medication.
