The drug compliance among patients with diabetes in Sri Lankan setting

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic non-communicable disease that is associated with vascular complications. Treatment of diabetes complications are expensive and it is much more expensive than the treatment for the disease itself. However, most of these vascular complications can be prevented with good glycaemic control and to achieve this, compliance to medication is essential. Similar to most of the other chronic diseases, drug compliance has been poor among patients with diabetes. The objective of this study was to assess the level of drug compliance and the factors that influence the drug compliance among Sri Lankan patients with diabetes.

Method: Three sets of patients were recruited from three different clinical settings, the diabetes clinic, the medical clinics and the general practitioner clinics in the community. Data were collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire.

Results: There were 247 patients recruited for the study and majority were females (80.2%). The majority (79.4%) attended the clinics regularly. However, a good compliance to medication was seen in 38.4% of patients. The large number of tablets that they need to swallow, fear of side effects with long-term drug intake and unclear instructions are the main reasons for poor drug compliance among our patients.