Association between characteristics of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and medication adherence

Patients with diabetes mellitus are characterized by the tendency to have poor medication adherence. This phenomenon can lead to the ineffective control of blood sugar levels, causing an increase in the possibility of developing long-term complications such as problems with small and larger blood vessels. The purpose of this study was to ascertain how patient variables such as gender, age, education level, occupation, length of disease, and comorbidities correlated with medication adherence. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at eight hospitals and four health centers in Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia, had their medication adherence levels assessed. The investigation was carried out for a duration of one year using a method of observation within a cross-sectional design. A total of 415 patients with T2DM met the inclusion criteria at the healthcare facilities. The validated Medication Adherence Rating Scale-5 (MARS-5) was used to collect data on medication adherence levels. The Krusskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney statistical tests were used to evaluate the data. The findings revealed that 58.3% of the patients were female, ages ranged from 46 to 65 (69.6%), completed high school (47.7%), unemployed (62.2%), patients with comorbidities (62.2%%), and a length of T2DM of 1-5 years (47.5%). Patient factors such as gender (p = 0.927), age (p = 0.244), education level (p = 0.408), occupation (p = 0.845), length of disease (p = 0.608), and presence of comorbidities (p = 0.753) were found to be correlated with adherence level. Among the respondents, 50.6% of them were non-adherence. The random blood sugar value was significantly correlated with the patients’ medication adherence (p > 0.02). The main factor contributing to non-adherence to medication was take the diabetes medication not on time (mean 4.31; SD ± 0.983). However, there was no discernible correlation between the T2DM patients' features and their level of medication adherence at the healthcare facilities. In conclusion, there is a need for a health intervention that focused on patient-centered care to improve medication adherence in T2DM patients.