Abstract
Background: Patients with chronic diseases often experience difficulty adhering to recommended treatments as instructed by their healthcare professionals. Recently, diabetes has been associated with the severity of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), which raises the importance of improving medication adherence for diabetic patients to enhance the right use of antidiabetics amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: This work assesses medication adherence among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and identifies the set of key demographic and health factors significantly associated with medication adherence. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on an appropriate sample of type 2 diabetic patients in the UAE, with 180 patients of both genders and various social levels. A validated version of the eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) was used for data collection. Results: The average MMAS score was 4.88, with 95% confidence intervals (CI) 4.6 and 5.2. 61.67% (n=111), 28.89% (n=52), and 9.44% (n=17) of patients were categorized into low, medium, and high adherent groups, respectively. These findings indicate that a high level of non-compliance to antidiabetic regimens among the population in the UAE. Conclusions : Patients demonstrated low level of compliance to antidiabetic regimens. Therefore, they must receive up-to-date knowledge about the disease and the treatment and enable easy access to their health care providers to enhance medication adherence.
Highlights
Medication adherence is the extent to which an individual takes medication as instructed by a healthcare professional
Our results were consistent with the findings reported by Al Haj et al, who interviewed 446 United Arab Emirates (UAE) patients from February 2015 to November 2015, and concluded that 64.6% of the UAE population were non-adherent to antidiabetic medications.[7]
It is evident that the percentage of non-adherence to antidiabetic medication in the UAE is quite similar to the other neighboring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries
Summary
Medication adherence is the extent to which an individual takes medication as instructed by a healthcare professional. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), medication adherence is defined as “the degree to which the patient's behavior complies to the prescribed recommendations and instructions from the health care provider”.1. In this context, the concept aims to integrate the professional medical opinion and the patient's preferences and lifestyle where there is mutual cooperation between the physician and the patient to improve the outcome of the treatment and enhance the prescribed regimen's efficacy. Conclusions: Patients demonstrated low level of compliance to antidiabetic regimens They must receive up-to-date knowledge about the disease and the treatment and enable easy access to their health care providers to enhance medication adherence
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