Medication-related burden among patients with diabetes mellitus and its relation to diabetic control parameters: an observational study

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a group of metabolic abnormalities that are linked with significant morbidity, death, and health-care costs. Management options for patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes are growing more complicated, which may result in a therapeutic burden for patients. The purpose of this research was to quantify the forms of concerns diabetic individuals have with medication that influence overall burden, as well as to examine the sociodemographic and clinical factors linked with negative medication use experiences and increased levels of burden. Methods: The present research was a cross-sectional study of diagnosed diabetes patients who attended the Specialized Center for Endocrinology and Diabetes between 1st of December 2021 and 30th April 2022 in Baghdad, Iraq. The Living with Medicines Questionnaire (LMQ) was used to assess medication-related burden (MRB). Results: The study recruited 193 patients with diabetes mellitus. The participants were adults with an average age of 50±15 years. More than half (52.8%) of the participating patients were women, and more than half (51.3%) also had one or more other chronic diseases. Additionally, 23.3% of patients had polypharmacy (≥ 5 medications). More than one-third had diabetes complications: neuropathy (45.6%) or retinopathy (38.9%). The mean LMQ score was (122.8±15.5). The research revealed that most of the DM patients experienced a moderate degree of medication burden (72.5%), followed by high burden (14.5%), minimum burden (12.4%), and no burden at all (0.5%) with no patient experiencing extremely high burden (0.0 %). Patients with uncontrolled blood glucose (high HbA1c), neuropathy, or retinopathy had a significantly higher medication burden. Conclusions: The MRB among diabetic patients is at a very high level. This information may be helpful to health care professionals and policymakers seeking to understand MRB for patients with diabetes. Future studies should focus on developing interventions that help reduce such burdens.