Diabetic Health Literacy And Medication Adherence Among Geriatrics With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Visiting A Tertiary Care Hospital of Rawalpindi City

Abstract

Background: Diabetic health literacy and diabetic medication adherence are essential to enable self management and shared decision making in geriatric patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Less known about diabetic health literacy and poor diabetic mediation adherence gives poor outcome and have a great impact on glycemic control and lead to diabetic complications. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the diabetic health literacy, diabetic medication adherence and find out the association between diabetic health literacy and medication among geriatrics visiting a tertiary care hospital of Rawalpindi city. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was employed at the outpatient diabetic clinic of the tertiary care hospital of Rawalpindi city from September 2022-febuary 2023.The comprehensive 14-items diabetic health literacy question with a 5-point Likert scale used to measure diabetic health literacy. Morisky Green Levine Scale 7 item medication adherence assessment tool was used to assess the diabetic medication adherence of patients. Chi-square test was used to assess the association between socio-demographics, diabetic health literacy and diabetic medication adherence. Results: Out of 264 respondents 57.2% were male and 42.8% were female. Majority of respondents belonged to urban area and had family history of diabetes mellitus .The study revealed that male respondents had more diabetic health literacy then female followed by diabetic medication adherence seemed better in male respondents. The association between diabetic health literacy and medication adherence showed statistically significant results, respondents with high diabetic health literacy had good diabetic medication adherence followed by respondents with moderate diabetic health literacy had moderate diabetic medication adherence and respondents with low diabetic health literacy had low diabetic medication adherence. Conclusion: Diabetic health literacy and medication adherence are highly associated. All variables gender, residency, educational status and family history of diabetes mellitus are associated with diabetic health literacy and diabetic medication adherence. Keywords: Diabetic health literacy, Medication adherence, Geriatrics, Type 2 diabetes mellitus.