Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Poor adherence to prescribed diabetic medication is a major contributor to disparities in effective glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between health literacy level and adherence to diabetic medications among this population.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey enrolled 66 patients medically treated for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Patients with dementia syndromes or impaired cognition were excluded. diabetic medication adherence and health literacy were evaluated respectively by the 6-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and the 16-items European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16). Socio-demographic characteristics were assessed during the consultation.

Results: The mean age of patients was 63.35±12.63 years. Adherence scores ranged from 0 to 6 with a mean score of 2±1. Overall, only 16.7% of participants had good adherence levels to diabetic medications. The mean score on the literacy questionnaire was 7±3. Adequate health literacy was associated with a higher adherence score (P=0.001) and better glycemic control (P=0.03). Internet was reported to be the preferred source of health information by 60% of participants with adequate health literacy. All the participants with inadequate health literacy answered wrong about the doctor’s comprehension questions. The low educational level (P=0.041), lack of medical and social security (P<0.01), and low socioeconomic levels (P<0.01) were correlated with inadequate health literacy.

Discussion: In this study, no correlation was found between male sex and adequate health literacy, this finding is different from previous research studies and may be explained by the limited variability in health literacy scores among study participants and the limited number of the population. However, the straight of our study that it is one of the rare studies in our country investigating the association between health literacy and diabetic medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Conclusion: Tailored interventions considering health literacy are needed to support medication adherence in order to improve glycemic outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Additional studies are needed to identify and prioritize factors targeting an effective adherence intervention for this population.