FACTORS AFFECTING PATIENT COMPLIANCE IN THE LONG-TERM THERAPY OF DIABETES MELLITUS AT SERVICES HOSPITAL LAHORE: AN EVIDENCE FOR ACTION

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a group of diseases, affecting 150 million people worldwide. Demographic projections by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates an increase in adults with diabetes in Pakistan from 4.3 million in 1995 to 14.5 million in 2025 making Pakistan the fourth highest country. The key to controlling diabetes lies in its management via medicines, diet plans and lifestyle changes.  As with other long term treatments, the compliance of diabetics remains an important barrier which needs to be addressed in order to achieve improved results. This research was undertaken as an effort to study and identify the variables affecting patient compliance in Services hospital, Lahore and to determine strategies for enhanced compliance.

Objectives: To correlate the life style of the people with their adherence to chronic life-long therapy (dietary and medical both), To highlight the barriers to patient’s compliance in subjects, To determine the consequences of patient’s Non-Compliance in Diabetes Mellitus, To formulate a health education program for improvement of patient compliance.

Study Design: Descriptive epidemiological study.

Study Setting: Diabetes Management Centre (DMC), Services Hospital, Lahore.

Study Duration: 1 month (June 2012-July 2012).   

Respondents and Methods: 64 Patients of different age groups were studied. Data was collected through pre- tested Questionnaire.

Results: Our study showed that 78.1 percent of the patients had a good knowledge of their disease. 76.6 percent were strictly complaint to their drug dosage regimens. Among the reasons for non-compliance, 7.8 percent listed forgetting to take the drug and 7.8 percent listed high cost of the medicine .Dietary compliance was 31.3 percent, and the reasons given by patients included inability to resist tempting food(39. Percent) whereas did not consider it important (26.6 percent). 42.18 percent of the patients were complaint to lifestyle modification i.e physical activity.

Conclusion: Most of the patients regularly took medicines, wheras the rate of dietary non- compliance was the highest, with exercise compliance following closely.  Education remains the cornerstone for compliance to long term therapies like diabetes since only when a patient sufficiently understands the disease and its complications will he seriously follow medicinal, dietary and exercise advice.

Keywords: Factors, Patient compliance, Diabetes Mellitus.