Evaluacion de conocimientos sobre su enfermedad en pacientes con diabetes tipo 2 de un hospital de Lima, Peru y su asociacion con la adherencia al tratamiento

Objective: To assess whether knowledge about type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with adherence to therapy. Materials and Methods: Knowledge about T2DM was assessed by using the Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ-24), and it was determined whether there was an association with adherence to treatment, which was measured using the Morisky-Green-Levine Test (MGL). A consecutive sample including 210 patients was taken. Results: Knowledge about T2DM was considered adequate in 78.1% of patients and it was verified that 25.7% of them were adherent to pharmacological treatment. A positive association between knowledge and adherence was found (OR= 1.12, 95% IC: 1.01-1.25), as well as for age 65 years old (OR: 1.14; 95% IC: 1.03-1.28). Also, a significant difference was found between mean scores obtained when adherent versus non-Adherent subjects were compared (15.3 vs. 16.37; p0.05). Adherence to diabetes treatment in our study was 25%. Conclusions: Factors associated with better adherence to therapy were knowledge level and being more of 65 years old. There are some mixed results (no bivariate significance, presence of multivariate significance) with respect to having gone to high school or college, and for having come from a rural area. Our findings indicate further studies need to be performed.