Adherence to long-term therapy for chronic illnesses in developed countries averages only 50%. Patients’ non-adherence to drug therapy is a major problem for society as it is associated with reduced health outcomes. This study aims to determine the impact of medication adherence among socio-economic classes in type 2 diabetes patients on the cost of diabetes (COD) estimates. This is a prospective, observational, and cross sectional study conducted at three centers for upper, middle and lower class patients (n = 612). Adherence was significantly lower for medicines not felt to be improving or directly needed to lower blood glucose levels. (5.7 vs 6.3 days out of 7, P < 0.004). Among patients on more than three drugs 77% was adherent with all but one or two medicines. Adherence to insulin was significantly more than adherence to oral hypoglyceamic drugs (6.1 vs 5.5 days out of 7, P <0.005). Estimating an average of 18.8% non-adherence, there will be a reduction of Rs.123.48 monthly (1481.76 yearly) from the drug acquisition cost which translates to a reduction of 13.2% of the total Cost-of-Diabetes (COD). Drug acquisition costs increased fivefold for patients with more than two co-morbidities.
Loading....