DefinePK

Abstract

Background: Diabetes is a chronic disorder and a global health concern. Individuals with diabetes require ongoing treatment to minimize complications. Patients must adhere to the prescribed treatment plan to achieve favorable outcomes. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital, Swat, Pakistan, to identify factors influencing adherence to the recommended treatment among patients with type 2 diabetes. 233 participants, aged 20 and older and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, were selected from the hospital. Following informed consent, patients completed a questionnaire that collected demographic data as well as possible barriers to adherence. To determine adherence to antidiabetic medicine, descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS version 25.
Result: The study revealed that 73.4% of participants consistently adhered to prescribed medications, while 26.6% reported non adherence. Major factors significantly associated with adherence included monthly income (p<0.001), treatment information adequacy (p<0.001), knowledge about diabetes diagnosis (p<0.001), medication type (p=0.034), and alternative medicine use (p=0.017). Gender differences were significant (p=0.032), with males showing better adherence. Only 16.7% of participants had attended diabetes education programs, and 53.2% reported insufficient treatment information. Financial constraints (43.5%) and forgetfulness (53.2%) were identified as primary reasons for non-adherence. Among participants, 26.2% reported using alternative medicines, which was negatively associated with conventional treatment adherence.
Conclusion: Poverty, lack of knowledge, non access to medications, alternative medication use, and lack of health care were identified as factors that affect adherence. Further studies are essential to uncover insights, enabling customized interventions about treatment adherence is important to improve diabetes care and optimize diabetes management on a global scale