Medication Adherence and its Predictors in Type 2 Diabetic Patients Referring to Urban Primary Health Care Centers in Kerman City, Southeastern Iran

Background: Medication adherence (MA) is one of the crucial aspects in the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate MA and its predictors in type 2 diabetic patients referring to urban primary health care centers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among type 2 diabetic patients referring to urban primary health care centers in 2017. The data were collected by the Persian version of the eight-item Morisky MA scale. Demographic and disease-related data were also collected. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Of 589 patients under study, more than 70% used oral hypoglycemic agents as the medication regimen and 29.2% received insulin as monotherapy or in combination with oral antidiabetic agents. Over half of the diabetic patients (51.1%) had other comorbid chronic diseases; moreover, 51.3% of them had at least one of diabetes-related complications. The mean MA score was 6.27 ± 1.81. One-third (33.3%, n = 196) of the patients had a moderate level of MA while 35.4% (n = 208) and 31.3% (n = 184) showed low and high MA levels, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that education level, type of medication, age, and treatmentduration were the predicting factors of MA. Conclusions: MA was at a suboptimal level among diabetic patients referring to the urban primary health care centers. Poor medication adherence can have negative outcomes for diabetic patients. Thus, primary health care providers should consider self-care behaviors of patients and monitor their medication adherence, as well as other aspects of diabetes management.