Weight concerns can reduce adherence in diabetes
Type 2 diabetes patients' concerns over weight gain are associated with reduced adherence to medication, a study of patients' beliefs has shown (Diabetic Medicine 2006;23:265).
An analysis of 121 questionnaires completed by type 2 diabetes patients
aged 40 years or over aimed to assess patients’ beliefs about taking
medicines and any correlation with their intention to take their medicine
and self-reported adherence.
In the survey, nearly one third of patients agreed or strongly agreed
with a statement that taking diabetes medicines regularly would cause
unpleasant side effects, but this did not correlate with the subjects’ intention
to take their medicines, or their self-reported adherence.
Another patient belief — “changes to my daily routine would
make it more difficult to take my diabetes medicines regularly” — was
associated with reduced adherence. On the other hand, beliefs about benefit
were strongly associated with the intention to take medicines regularly,
but were not associated with an increase in adherence.
Lead researcher Andrew Farmer, from the department of primary health
care at the University of Oxford, said that exploring these identified
beliefs can usefully form part of the process of developing treatment
plans. “Further work to develop interventions to help people who
have difficulty in taking their medication, based on this study, is currently
being undertaken, funded by the Medical Research Council,” Dr Farmer
added.
Knowledge gap Only 20 per cent of individuals
at a high risk of developing diabetes consider themselves to be
at risk, according to the results of a survey commissioned by Diabetes
UK. The survey also showed that many patients with diabetes are
not
aware of the serious health complications of having the disease — half
of those surveyed were not aware of the increased risk of stroke,
and a third
did not know that diabetes can lead to heart disease.
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