Adherence to medicamentous therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus: results of patient questionnaires

Abstract

Aim. To assess the frequency and character of non-compliance with medicamentous therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus based on the results of a questionnaire study. Materials and methods. A special qiuestionnaire form was filled by 745 patients (232 men) of mean age 60.3?10.4 years, duration of the disease 6.4?5.5 years and mean HbA1c level 7.7?1.1%. Results. 52.8% of the patients reported non-compliance with medication. The most frequent profile of non-compliance was the change of time and occasional omission of therapeuticdoses (42.7 and 42.2% respectively), the main cause being mere forgetfulness (71.2%). Other factors (30.8%) included poor understanding of medication schedule andfears of health hazard from the following of medical advice. Patients to whom monotherapy with glibomet was prescribed (n=277) showed a lower non-compliance rate and lowerHbA1c level despite the intake of fewer daily doses than patients taking other oral hypoglycemic agents (7.0?1.0 vs 7.3?1.3%, p

Keywords

• type 2 diabetes mellitus
• compliance with therapy
• combined medicinal preparations