ADA: Time Since Diabetes Dx Key in Adherence

MedPage Today

Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients are less likely to follow their medication regimen than those with longer-standing disease, and those who take more pills are more likely to be adherent than those on fewer medications, a study found.

The odds of having prescriptions filled at least 80% of the time were 61% lower for patients new to diabetes treatment, and were 5% higher the more pills in the regimen (both P<0.001), Ronald Aubert, PhD, MSPH, then of the pharmacy benefits management company Express Scripts, and colleagues found in an analysis of Medicare beneficiary claims.

Further proof that number of pills may not effect medication adherence came from another survey conducted online by A. Bret Hauber, PhD, of the pharmaceutical research firm RTI Health Solutions in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and colleagues.  Read more