What is it about?

Most previous studies of medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes have focused on short time periods. However, once treatment with hypoglycemic medications is initiated, most patients continue to take these medications for several years after diagnosis, necessitating a multi-year adherence study. This study surveyed factors affecting medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes over a relatively long period of 3 years. In addition, the impact of medication non-adherence on hemoglobin A1c levels was also investigated.

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Why is it important?

This study surveyed medication adherence for 3 years, and found that subjects aged 50-<60 years, those with ≥3 concomitant medications, and those with a total number of visits ≥17 were more likely to be adherent and persistent. The study showed that good medication adherence has a positive effect on achieving target HbA1c levels.

Perspectives

The article gave us an idea of what the current situation is like, although the medical profession wants patients to remember to take their medications 100% of the time. This article also led me to become deeply involved in clinical research using the claim database and gave me the opportunity to work with researchers in a wide range of fields.

Takeshi Horii
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Musashino University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Determination of factors affecting medication adherence in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients using a nationwide claim-based database in Japan, PLoS ONE, October 2019, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223431.
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