Abstract:
Abstract: Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) poses a global health challenge
and its prevalence is rapidly increasing particularly in developing countries.
Adherence to medication is important to prevent or delay complications.
Family support is helpful in improving medication adherence. The study
compared adherence to oral glucose lowering agents among type 2 diabetes
mellitus patients with good and poor family support with the overall goal of
improving diabetes care. Methods: A hospital based prospective cohort study
was carried out at the Outpatient Department of Bingham University Teaching
Hospital, Jos, between January and April 2016. Respondents were recruited by
systematic random sampling (N=132), and allocated to two groups based on
family support scores. Data was collected at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. All
data was analysed using Epi Info 3.5.4. Results: Medication adherence scores
were generally low (5.54±1.7) among the study participants. Respondents
had comparable medication adherence scores at baseline (p =0.39) and 4
weeks (p =0.75), but the difference was significant at eight weeks (p =0.01).
Multiple logistic regression showed that good family support (OR 2.042; 95%
CI 1.219-3.420; p =0.007), age group 45 to 54 years and age group 55-64
years (OR 3.084; 95% CI 1.113-8.543; p =0.03) were significant predictors of
good medication adherence. Conclusion: Good family support is a significant
predictor of good medication adherence among type 2 diabetes mellitus
patients.
