Side-effects undermine diabetes drug adherence

Monday December 18th, 2017

Powerful new drugs for treating type 2 diabetes are proving ineffective – because patients do not like the side-effects, according to an analysis published today.

Metformin is the most unpopular prescribed medicine because of the gastrointestinal symptoms it provokes, researchers at Surrey University found. Patients fail to take as many as 30% of the pills they receive.

And injectable medications such as GLP1 receptor agonists were found to be twice as unpopular as insulin.

Other drugs were more successful than metformin – but still had high non-adherence rates. Some 23% of sulfonylurea prescriptions were not used – as were 20% of pioglitazone prescriptions.

Some of the best adherence was found with gliptins, the researchers say – but even among these up to 20% of prescriptions were not used. The findings are published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

Researcher Dr Andy McGovern said: “We have known for a long time that a lot of medication prescribed for chronic diseases never actually get taken. What this latest research suggests is that patients find some of these medication classes much easier to take than others.

“I urge anyone who is struggling to take their medication as prescribed, whether this is because of side effects or because the schedule is too complicated, to discuss this openly with their doctor or nurse.

“Fortunately for type 2 diabetes we have lots of treatment options and switching to a different medication class which is easier to take could provide an easy way to improve adherence.

“I would also encourage doctors and nurses to actively ask their patients about medication adherence.”

Comparison of medication adherence and persistence in type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 18 December 2017; doi: 10.1111/dom.13160

Tags: Diabetes | Pharmaceuticals | UK News

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