The Need for Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) for the Management of Type 2 Diabetes in Mauritius

Abstract

The State health services of Mauritius are provided free to all 1.27 million inhabitants of the island. Despite so, successive surveys by the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life have shown that diabetes remains a major public health threat to Mauritians. With 24% of the adult population affected by (type 2 diabetes) T2D, our island is ranked amongst those countries with highest diabetes-related mortality, which emphasizes the need for educating the population proper self-management of the disease. It is also evident that poor treatment adherence looms large. Patients with T2D under conventional treatment often require multiple medications to achieve glycaemic control. This induces a significant pill burden when coupled with co-morbid conditions associated to diabetes and deters adherence to treatment. Public health institutions in Mauritius support the usage of loose pills for diabetes treatment as opposed to private institutions who promote the adoption of Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) therapy as a means to improve treatment efficacy. A scaled-study was conducted to explore the efficiency and patients' perspectives on FDC in the management of T2D. 65 patients from the Diabetes and Vascular Health Centre were grouped according to their treatment regimen: FDC from start; switched to FDC from loose pills; reverted to loose pills after trying FDC and loose pills treatment. Patients were interviewed and their clinical parameters recorded. Results showed that 67.7 % of patients were taking more than 7 pills a day to achieve glycaemic control, with only 30.8 % being made aware of possible FDC options by their healthcare practitioner. 96.3% patients who were on loose pills expressed their willingness to shift to FDC if made available in public institutions. Overall glycaemic control was better managed among the FDC group. Our findings concluded that the loose pill regime was indeed problematic for diabetics to achieve optimal glycaemic control. FDC could be pivotal in improving their health outcomes, barriers such as communication of treatment availabilities, financial constraints, shared decision-making and self-management training also need to be addressed.