Assessing the Adherence to Antidiabetic Medications Among Patients Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Ajman, UAE

BackgroundMedication adherence plays a vital role in managing blood sugar levels and preventing complications in individuals with diabetes. Patient adherence to antidiabetic medications and the factors associated with medication adherence were assessed.ObjectivesTo assess the medication adherence among patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus. To determine the various factors influencing medication adherence.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with type 2 diabetes who were visiting the Internal Medicine Department of Thumbay University Hospital in the United Arab Emirates. A questionnaire was used to gather information about the medication adherence of a group of chosen consecutive patients. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27 (Released 2020; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York) was used for data analysis. A two-sided P-value <0.05 was regarded as significant when using the chi-square test to investigate the relationships between categorical variables.ResultsA total of 204 patients participated in the study: 112 (54.90%) males and 92 (45.09%) females. The mean age of the patients was 49 years. The adherence rates among males and females were 91% and 90%, respectively. Some of the common reasons for non-adherence to antidiabetic medications in our study included forgetfulness, unpleasant side effects, the use of multiple drugs, and long treatment duration.ConclusionOur study highlighted important factors associated with patients' non-adherence to their antidiabetic medications. Future research on methods to increase adherence rates should be taken into consideration.