Background: Medication adherence (MA) is one of the crucial aspects in the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate MA and its predictors in type 2 diabetic patients referring to urban primary health care centers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among type 2 diabetic patients referring to urban primary health care centers in 2017. The data were collected by the Persian version of the eight-item Morisky MA scale. Demographic and disease-related data were also collected. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Of 589 patients under study, more than 70% used oral hypoglycemic agents as the medication regimen and 29.2% received insulin as monotherapy or in combination with oral antidiabetic agents. Over half of the diabetic patients (51.1%) had other comorbid chronic diseases; moreover, 51.3% of them had at least one of diabetes-related complications. The mean MA score was 6.27 ± 1.81. One-third (33.3%, n = 196) of the patients had a moderate level of MA while 35.4% (n = 208) and 31.3% (n = 184) showed low and high MA levels, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that education level, type of medication, age, and treatment duration were the predicting factors of MA. Conclusions: MA was at a suboptimal level among diabetic patients referring to the urban primary health care centers. Poor medication adherence can have negative outcomes for diabetic patients. Thus, primary health care providers should consider self-care behaviors of patients and monitor their medication adherence, as well as other aspects of diabetes management.

Aims: Diabetes self-management (DSM) plays a crucial role in diabetes control. The present study was conducted to evaluate DSM and its related factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among T2DM patients from January to March 2017 in urban healthcare centers of Kerman city, southeast Iran. A total of 600 T2DM patients were enrolled in the study using a multistage sampling method. Valid and reliable diabetes selfmanagement questionnaire (DSMQ) was employed for data collection. Results: The mean (±SD) score of DSM was 6.92 (±1.17) out of 10 with inter quartile range 6.25-7.70. DSM mean score was higher in patients with higher educational level and household income significantly. Employed subjects (mean=7.18) had a higher DSM mean score than unemployed Khalooei and Benrazavy; JPRI, 29(4): 1-9, 2019; Article no.JPRI.50714 2 ones (mean=6.84). Moreover, DSM was better in patients who receive insulin and those with diabetes-related complications. DSM had a direct correlation with the number of visits by specialist physicians (r = 0.257, P < 0.001) and treatment duration (r = 0.103, P = 0.013). University education (Beta = 0.243, P < 0.001) was the strongest predictor of DMS, followed by high school education (Beta = 0.226, P < 0.001) and number of annual visits in primary healthcare centers (Beta = 0.205, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Self-Management behaviors were suboptimal among the diabetes patients. Therefore, designing and implementing effective interventions to improve self-care behaviors of diabetic patients is necessary in the first level of health delivery system in Iran. Original Research Article