MaâÂÂaji Hadiza Usman, Kola-Olaniyan Oyeronke.Medinat, Abdullahi Rashida.
OBJECTIVES. Despite significant advances in medicine, diabetes has remained a major medical challenge. This threat to global health is escalating and rapidly worsening. The increase in prevalence of diabetes mellitus and the emergence of complications of diabetes made it necessary to assess adherence to anti-diabetic medication. The main aim of this research work was to evaluate patient’s adherence to their prescribed medications.
METHOD. This work was conducted at a secondary health facility in north western Nigeria. A total of 30 patients were used for this study .Data were obtained from both case records and an interviewing questionnaire. The inclusion criteria were established type 2 diabetes and informed consent form was filled prior to the study. The information obtained includes patient’s demographic data, diabetic history, prescription pattern, laboratory investigations and results.
RESULTS. Data analysis was simple descriptive statistic in form of percentages. 18 patients were females and 12 were maless.17 patients (56.6%) always took their medication on time as prescribed. 20 patients (66.7%) always complied with dietary regimen while 10 patients reported regular adherence with exercise regimen. Ignorance of importance of adherence and or with financial reason was the commonest cause of non-adherence. The result of the blood samples revealed glucose level in 56.6% of patients. Adherence to therapy was found in 27% of the study subject. Metformin was found to be the most prescribed drug, either in mono or combination therapy.
CONCLUSION. Patient’s adherence with most of the diabetic regimen was low. The patient-physician relationship was found to be poor which perhaps may be the cause of patient’s lack of knowledge about the disease. There is a need to improve patient’s knowledge of diabetes in order to promote sound management of the disease.
