Association between polypharmacy and the adherence to pharmacological treatment in patients with diabetes

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the occurrence of polypharmacy and its association with the adherence to the pharmacological treatment in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. Methods: cross-sectional study conducted with 235 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 through interview about the demographic and clinical data, drug therapy prescribed and adherence to treatment. To analyze the data, we used Student t-tests and Chi-square, with significance level p<0.05. Results: polypharmacy was evidenced in 88.4% of cases with a predominance of moderate level. An average of 7.5 pills per person among the 19 types of prescribed drugs were used. Adherence to prescribed therapy was reported by 88.2% of patients evaluated and there was no association with polypharmacy (p=0.266). Conclusion: it was verified that polypharmacy is a condition of high prevalence and is not associated with worse adherence to therapy.