Did the diabetes check improve drug adherence of Dutch patients with diabetes?: an intervention study.

Background: Poor adherence to treatment of chronic diseases is a worldwide problem. Medicines are often part of therapy and appropriate drug use is important in optimizing health care outcomes. Pharmacies can improve drug adherence by providing information and assistance to their patients. Several interventions have taken place in Dutch pharmacies to enhance pharmaceutical care. We investigated whether the Diabetes Check influenced drug adherence of patients with diabetes. Methods: Diabetes Check (DC) aimed to improve drug adherence by enhancing communication about taking medicines between pharmacists and patients. The study included two types of data. Drug adherence was measured by self-report. One thousand and forty-one patients with diabetes completed the MARS-5; 548 patients came from pharmacies that participated in DC. The Foundation for Pharmaceutical Statistics provided dispensation data on insulin and oral hypoglycaemic agents in 2000 and 2004 by 46 pharmacies (22 participated in DC). Data were analysed using multilevel regression analyses. Results: The groups of patients did not differ concerning self-reported drug adherence (b=0.09, P>.05). Patients reported that they took their medications according to prescriptions (M = 23.0, SD = 2.3). The dispensation data revealed that the number of short-term users of oral medication decreased significantly from 14.6 to 10.7% in the DC-group, and from 17.9 to 12.3% in the control group. The difference in the decrease, however, was not significant between the groups. Conclusions: Diabetes Check did not influence drug adherence of patients with diabetes. Drug adherence improved for patients of both participating and non-participating pharmacies. Since all pharmacies had participated in interventions to enhance pharmaceutical care, this might explain the increase in drug adherence for all patients. (aut.ref.