WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Moe Oo Thant*, Pa Pa Soe, Myo Tun and Win Myint Oo

ABSTRACT

Context: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its related disability and premature death are high all over the world, including Myanmar. It is important to understand the perception on medication adherence among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients to design effective interventions and to ultimately improve adherence rate of diabetes mellitus patients in Myanmar. Objective: To study medication adherence among type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients in Mandalay city, Myanmar. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 180 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who were recruited by simple random sampling from the eight charity clinics in Mandalay. Face to face interviewing was done at participants’ homes by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Medication adherence was measured by Medication Assessment Questionnaire. Results: Among the participants, 63.3% of patients had good adherence to antidiabetic therapy. Level of perception was strongly associated with level of medication adherence (p<0.001). Conclusion: In this study, medication adherence of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients was good. However, knowledge concerning etiology and pathophysiology of diabetes was poor. Therefore, the health education programs should emphasize not only on the risk factors and complications of the disease but also on etiology and pathophysiology and importance of drug adherence.