Assessment of medication knowledge and adherence in type-2 diabetic patients in Chau Thanh district, Dong Thap province

Abstract

Poor adherence to medication regimens in type-2 diabetic patients is a notable health problem in clinical treatment and accounts for life-threatening complications. This study aims to survey medication knowledge and evaluate medication adherence in type-2 diabetic outpatients in the primary health care system of Chau Thanh district, Dong Thap province. A descriptive cross-sectional study was applied to over 200 information survey forms in diabetic outpatients treated at 12 primary health care units of Chau Thanh district, Dong Thap province from January 2021 to June 2021. The survey of medication knowledge recognized that 63,5% of diabetic patients knew the name of prescribed drugs, 85% got information on therapeutic effects, and 59% remembered the medication guide. However, only 17% of diabetic patients knew how to resolve the side effects of antidiabetic drugs. The evaluation of medication adherence revealed that 29,5% of the patients were in good compliance; 27,5% of average compliance and 43% of poor compliance. There were 53,5% of the patients forgot the time to take the prescribed drug. The analysis of factors associated with medication adherence to demographic characteristics or biochemical criteria for diabetes mellitus recognized a statistically significant difference in adherence rate when the patient was living with family (p = 0,015), patient's HbAlc levels (p = 0,004), fasting blood glucose (p= 0,001), as well as treatment goals EPG < 7.2 mmol/l and HbAlc < 7 (p < 0,001). The results showed the rate of medication adherence in diabetic outpatients is quite low. From these results, it is necessary to improve the healthcare system policy and quality of patient counseling in order to improve treatment adherence in type-2 diabetic outpatients.