Factors associated with low medication adherence in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus attending a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh

Background: Adherence to prescribed medication is essential for glycemic controland to delay the onset of complications. However, information on medication adher-ence among patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus is sparse in Bangladesh. This study aimed to determine medication adherence and factors associated with low adherencein patients with Type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 consecutive patients withType 2 diabetes attending a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh between September 2013and July 2014. Data were collected on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics,medication use and adherence, and blood tests for glycated hemoglobin. Medicationadherence was assessed using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (scorerange 0–8), and a score < 6 was defined as low adherence. Multiple logistic regressionmodeling was used to investigate factors associated with low medication adherence.Results: The mean age ± standard deviation of the participants was 50.2 ± 10.2years (56.2% females). Overall, 42.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 38.5–47.2) of participants reported low medication adherence with no differences by sex. Multiplelogistic regression analysis revealed that increased age was negatively associated withlow adherence (odds ratio: 0.97 [95% CI 0.95–0.99]). Patients who reported no familyhistory of diabetes had 55% higher odds of having low adherence (1.55 [1.05–2.30]),compared to their counterparts with a family history of diabetes.Conclusion: Almost half of the patients with Type 2 diabetes attending a tertiary hos-pital in Dhaka had suboptimal medication adherence. Innovative approaches targetingyoung patients and those with no family history of diabetes could improve medication adherence. Key words: Bangladesh, hypertension, medication adherence, tertiary hospital, Type 2 diabetes