Diabetes-related Knowledge, Medication Adherence, and Health-related Quality of Life: A Correlation Analysis.

CONTEXT

Even though positive treatment outcomes for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are linked to disease knowledge and adherence to medications, inadequate knowledge, poor adherence, and resistance to lifestyle modifications are still common among patients. This situation has been a continuing dilemma for patients and healthcare providers, and these factors negatively affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients.

OBJECTIVE

The current study intended to evaluate the correlations between diabetes-related knowledge, medication adherence, and HRQoL among T2DM patients in Pakistan.

DESIGN

The study was designed as a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional descriptive analysis, with participants being selected using a prevalence-based sampling method.

SETTING

The study was conducted at four different healthcare institutes namely Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Bolan Medical Complex Hospital, Al-Khair Hospital and Sajid Hospital, Quetta city, Pakistan.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 300 patients with T2DM who were receiving treatment at public and private healthcare institutes in Quetta, Pakistan.

OUTCOME MEASURES

In addition to collection of demographics, the Urdu version of Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test (MDKT-U), the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10), and the EuroQol EQ-5D were used to assess diabetes-related knowledge, medication adherence and HRQoL, respectively. The relationships among the 3 variables were determined using the Spearmen rho correlation coefficient, and the results were interpreted using Cohen' criteria. SPSS v.20 was used for data analysis, and P < .05 was considered significant for all analysis.

RESULTS

The mean diabetes-related knowledge score was 5.83 ± 1.92, indicating participants' lack of knowledge of T2DM. Moderate adherence was reported, with a mean adherence score of 4.94 ± 2.72. Additionally, the mean EQ-5D score was 0.48±0.36, and the mean Visual Analogue Score (VAS) was 54.58 ± 20.28, highlighting poor HRQoL. The Spearman's rho correlation coefficient indicated significant, moderate correlations among all variables (P < .05; r = 0.053-0.231).

CONCLUSIONS

The study found limited diabetes-related knowledge, moderate medication adherence, and poor HRQoL among patients with T2DM in Pakistan. Nevertheless, a positive significant correlation revealed that a directly proportional change in one study variable can improve the others.