Assessment of Medication Adherence in Saudi Patients With Type II Diabetes Mellitus in Khobar City, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: Medication adherence is defined as taking medications as advised and prescribed by health care professionals for stated duration. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic illnesses in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to document medication adherence in Saudi patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi outpatients with type 2 DM in the city of Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The study used the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) to document medication adherence in this population. Data was analyzed through SPSS version 23. Study was ethically approved. Results: Data was collected from 212 patients. Few patients (35.8%) had high adherence to anti diabetic medications. The correlation between Hb A1c level and adherence score was negative and significantly strong (ρ =-0.413, p < 0.0001). Most patients (N = 126, 59.4%) modified their medication therapy during month of Ramadan and on Eid occassion. Education level was not a determinant of adherence in this population. Conclusion: This study highlighted that medication adherence is influenced by religious and social factors. Patient counseling is required to improve patient beliefs and increase awareness of adhering to prescribed anti diabetic pharmacotherapy. A pharmacist can play constructive role of a disease educator and patient counselor.

Association of Disease Knowledge and Medication Adherence Among Out-Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Khobar, Saudi Arabia

“…Better knowledge contributes to better adherence. This finding was in line with previously reported literature that mentions disease literacy as a determinant of achieving positive treatment outcomes (Yeh et al, 2018;AlQarni et al, 2019). Our findings are in line with the results of Nazir et al (2016) as there was a negative relationship between Hb A1c value and, adherence and disease knowledge in patients with diabetes in Pakistan.…”

“…The study further highlighted that individual patient characteristics such as education, income, insurance and comorbidities may act as determinants of medication adherence. This occurrence was in line with previous study by AlQarni et al (2019). However, the fact that education does not act as a determinant of disease awareness in this population uncovers the need to initiate diabetes awareness campaigns to educate patients about the disease, its symptoms and self-management that includes adherence to treatment.…”

“…Studies that evaluate the benefits of an educational intervention by pharmacists to improve disease knowledge and adherence are recommended. The use of convenience sampling might have made it difficult to generalize the findings however, the demographics obtained in the current study were quite similar to the results of study by AlQarni et al (2019) that used random sampling. Nonetheless, the results should be interpreted with caution.…”

“…Hb A1c was considered as a proxy for disease control as the American Diabetes Association (ADA) mentions a better Hb A1c value as an indicator for adequate glycemic control over 4 months (Sherwani et al, 2016). This approach has been previously used by AlQarni et al (2019) in Saudi patients with T2DM. All correlations were statistically significant.…”

Patient Satisfaction and Their Willingness to Pay for a Pharmacist Counseling Session in Hospital and Community Pharmacies in Saudi Healthcare Settings

“…With the exception of the work of Alhaddad, no study has been conducted in Saudi Arabia that reports this phenomenon (Alhaddad, 2019). This study was conducted in the third largest metropolitan region of Saudi Arabia comprising of three major cities with a population of over 0.3 million (General Authority for Statistics, 2016;AlQarni et al, 2019). The study utilized a previously validated instrument known as patient satisfaction feedback (PSF) that was translated in Arabic language, and gathered responses from a large patient sample in both hospital and community pharmacy settings (Naqvi et al, 2019).…”