Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Oct 15, 2021; 12(10): 1740-1749
Published online Oct 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i10.1740
Medication adherence and quality of life among type-2 diabetes mellitus patients in India
Rakhi Mishra, Suresh K Sharma, Rajni Verma, Priyanka Kangra, Preeti Dahiya, Preeti Kumari, Priya Sahu, Priyanka Bhakar, Reena Kumawat, Ravinder Kaur, Ravinder Kaur, Ravi Kant
Rakhi Mishra, Suresh K Sharma, Rajni Verma, Priyanka Kangra, Preeti Dahiya, Preeti Kumari, Priya Sahu, Priyanka Bhakar, Reena Kumawat, Ravinder Kaur, Ravinder Kaur, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Uttarakhand 249203, Rishikesh, India
Ravi Kant, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Uttarakhand 249203, Rishikesh, India
Author contributions: Mishra R, Sharma SK, Kant R designed and coordinated the study; Verma R, Kangra P, Dahiya P, Kumari P, Sahu P, Bhakar P, Kumawat R, Kaur R, Kaur R acquired and analyzed data; Mishra R, Verma R, Kangra P, Dahiya P, Kumari P, Sahu P, Bhakar P, Kumawat R, Kaur R, Kaur R interpreted the data; Mishra R, Sharma SK, Kant R wrote the manuscript; All authors approved the final version of the article.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at AIIMS, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Rakhi Mishra, MSc, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Virbhadra Road Shivaji Nagar, Near Barrage, Uttarakhand 249203, Rishikesh, India. mishrarakhi92@gmail.com
Received: February 16, 2021
Peer-review started: February 16, 2021
First decision: March 30, 2021
Revised: April 7, 2021
Accepted: July 16, 2021
Article in press: July 16, 2021
Published online: October 15, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a progressively increasing metabolic disorder and a significant public health burden that demands immediate global attention. However, there is a paucity of data about adherence to antidiabetic drugs among patients with type-2 (T2)DM in Uttarakhand, India. Outpatient research reported that more than 50% of patients do not adhere to the correct administration and appropriate medicine dosage. It has been reported that patients with chronic diseases who adhere to treatment may experience improvement in quality of life (QoL) and vice versa.

AIM

To assess the adherence to antidiabetic medication and QoL among patients with T2DM.

METHODS

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Uttarakhand, India. The Medication Adherence Rating Scale and World Health Organization QoL-BREF scale were used to assess medication adherence and QoL.

RESULTS

Two hundred seventy-seven patients suffering from T2DM participated in the study. Their mean age was 50.80 (± 10.6) years, 155 (56%) had a poor adherence level and 122 (44%) had a good adherence level to antidiabetic medications. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, multiple linear regression analysis found patients who were adherent to antidiabetic medications had significantly higher mean overall perception of QoL and overall perception of health, with beta scores of 0.36 and 0.34, respectively (both P = 0.000) points compared with nonadherent patients.

CONCLUSION

There was an association between medication adherence and QoL in patients with T2DM. Hence, there is a need to plan awareness and counseling programs followed by regular follow-up to motivate patient adherence to recommended treatment and lifestyle regimens.

Keywords: Medication adherence, Quality of life, Diabetes mellitus, Tertiary care hospital, India

Core Tip: Many research articles have been published on the epidemiology, complications, therapies, comparisons of treatments, and healthcare strategies for diabetes mellitus (DM). The literature shows that patient adherence to antidiabetic medications and quality of life (QoL) are interrelated. Patients with diabetes who adhere to their treatment can experience an improvement in QoL and vice versa. This study focused on (1) adherence to antidiabetic medication and QoL among T2DM patients; (2) finding the relationship between adherence to antidiabetic medication and QoL; and (3) determining the association between adherence to antidiabetic medications and QoL and selected demographic variables.