Metformin adherence and its impact on diabetes control

Elyes Kamoun; Meriem Yazidi; Sahar Abidi; Nadia Khessairi; Yasmine Mouelhi; Ibtissem Oueslati; Melika Chihaoui

doi:10.1530/endoabs.81.EP467

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Endocrine Abstracts (2022) 81 EP467 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.81.EP467

ECE2022 Eposter Presentations Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition (318 abstracts)

Metformin adherence and its impact on diabetes control

Elyes Kamoun ^1,2 , Meriem Yazidi ^1,2 , Sahar Abidi ^1,2 , Nadia Khessairi ^1,2 , Yasmine Mouelhi ^1,2 , Ibtissem Oueslati ^1,2 & Melika Chihaoui ^1,2

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¹Hospital Rabta, Department of Endocrinology, Tunis, Tunisia; ²Faculté de Médecine de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia

Introduction: Metformin is the first-line treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Poor adherence can be lead to poor glycemic control. The aim of our study was to determine the level of metformin adherence and its link with glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study including 273 patients with type 2 diabetes taking metformin for at least three years. We assessed metformin adherence using the Girerd questionnaire in its Tunisian version. The level of adherence was considered good, medium or poor. Diabetes was considered controlled when HbA1c was less than 7%.

Results: The mean age was 60±8.22 years. Mean duration of metformin treatment was 10±5.5 years, with extremes ranging from 3 to 40 years. Mean HbA1c was 8.7±1.8% with extremes ranging from 5.6% to 15.7%. The diabetes was controlled in 18.3% of patients. The compliance was good in 7.3% of patients, medium in 48% of patients and poor in 44.7% of patients. When comparing mean HbA1c in all three adherence categories, there was a near statistically significant difference between the three categories (P = 0.058). HbA1c was higher in patients with poor treatment adherence compared to patients with good or medium level of adherence (8.98±1.96% vs 8.46±1.7%, P = 0.02). Duration of diabetes was lower in patients with poor adherence (9.7 years vs 11.1 years, P = 0.045).

Conclusion: Poor adherence to metformin treatment is frequent in type 2 diabetic patients. It is associated with a poorer glycemic control and should be targeted in therapeutic education programs.