Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

A Multifactorial Intervention to Enhance Adherence to Medications and Disease-Related Knowledge in Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Abdul Majeed Samtia , Muhammad Fawad Rasool, Nazar Muhammad Ranjha, Faisal Usman, Ibrahim Javed

Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakaryia University, Multan, Pakistan;

For correspondence:- Abdul Samtia Email: abdulmajeedsamtia@yahoo.com Tel:+923336139819

Received: 23 August 2012 Accepted: 17 June 2013 Published: 18 October 2013

Citation: Samtia AM, Rasool MF, Ranjha NM, Usman F, Javed I. A Multifactorial Intervention to Enhance Adherence to Medications and Disease-Related Knowledge in Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Trop J Pharm Res 2013; 12(5):851-856 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v12i5.28

© 2013 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the impact of pharmacist-led multifactorial interventions on health parameters, medication adherence, and disease-related knowledge among type 2 diabetic patients in southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Methods: The effect of intervention was evaluated by randomly assigning patients into control group (n = 170), receiving conventional medical care, and intervention group (n = 178), receiving predefined specialized care. The primary outcome of this intervention study was improvement in glycemic control which was assessed by measuring fasting blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values.

Results: The outcomes obtained clearly show the role of pharmacist counseling in the control of type 2 diabetes while improving fasting blood glucose (FBG) and HbA1c levels, reduction in Body Mass Index (BMI), improvement in disease knowledge as well as reduction in smoking. The intervention significantly reduced BMI and waist circumference by a difference of 1.87 (p = 0.014) and 1.27 (p = 0.002) between control and intervention groups. Glycemic control was significant within the intervention group, as evident by a reduction in fasting blood glucose level {-19.26 mg/dL (p = 0.003)} and HbA1c level {-1.01 % (p < 0.001)} compared to control group. The mean difference in glycemic control between both groups was insignificant but mild reductions were seen in fasting blood glucose (-11.95 mg/dL, p = 0.11) and HbA1c (-0.43 %, p = 0.12). A significant increase in disease-related knowledge was seen in the intervention group, compared to the control group which was evident by mean differences in compliance (p = 0.003), foot-care (p < 0.001) and self-monitoring of blood glucose (p = 0.001).

Conclusion: The purpose of study was achieved in that it demonstrates that pharmacists can play a pivotal role in improving glycemic control in diabetic patients and that involvement of pharmacists in diabetic clinics is beneficial to the patients in terms of medication adherence and promotion of healthy lifestyle.

Keywords: Diabetes, Intervention, Medication adherence, Glycemic control, BMI, HbA1c