Medication Adherence and Its Associated Factors among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Attending Primary Health Centers of Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Aseel Awad Alsaidan, Sultan Alotaibi, Ashokkumar Thirunavukkarasu, Bashayer Farhan ALruwaili, Rami Alharbi, Maha M. Arnous, Omar Awad Alsaidan, Abdulbaqi Sulaiman Alduraywish, Yasir Abdulrahman Alwushayh
Abstract
Medication adherence by patients with diabetes is critical, as it plays a crucial role in individuals’ long-term health and well-being. We evaluated the medication adherence, illness perception, diabetes knowledge, and associated factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) attending primary health centers (PHCs) in the eastern province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) using a validated Arabic version of a data collection form. In order to identify the variables that are associated with medication adherence, we applied a logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, we performed the Spearman test to find the correlation between medication adherence, illness perception, and diabetes knowledge. Of the 390 studied patients, 21.5% had low medication adherence, and it was significantly associated with gender (adjusted OR (AOR) = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.27–2.73, p = 0.003) and duration of diabetes (AOR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.67–0.95, p = 0.017). Furthermore, we found a significant positive correlation between medication adherence and illness perception (rho = 0.217, p = 0.007) and knowledge of diabetes and medication adherence (rho = 0.425, p < 0.001). We recommend improving T2DM patients’ knowledge about the importance of adherence to their medication regimen in several health education sessions at the PHCs. In addition, we recommend mixed-method medication adherence assessment surveys in different parts of the KSA.