RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 6-ITEM MORISKY MEDICATION ADHERENCE SCALE (MMAS-6) SCORE AND GLYCEMIC CONTROL IN A TURKISH POPULATION WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

NAZAN ERENOĞLU SON¹, BENGÜR TAŞKIRAN², GÖKNUR YORULMAZ³, OSMAN SON⁴, BURCU KÖKOĞLU⁵, MUZAFFER BILGIN⁶, UĞUR BILGE⁵

¹Afyon Kocatepe University Faculty of Medicine, Afyon - ²Eskişehir Yunus Emre Government Hospital, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Eskişehir - ³Eskişehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Eskişehir - ⁴Acibadem Private Hospital, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Eskişehir - ⁵Eskişehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Department of Family Medicine, Eskişehir - ⁶Eskişehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Department of Biostatistics, Eskişehir

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between metabolic control and Morisky scale in the population of diabetic patients and the factors that contribute to low motivation and knowledge.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients that presented to Eskişehir Government Hospital, Eskişehir Yunus Emre Government Hospital, and Sakarya Private Hospital for routine follow-up between June-October- 2015. 6-item Morisky scale was applied to each subject. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the groups that were not distributed normally, when the number of groups was three or more. The Pearson’s Chi-Square, Yate’s Chi- Square and Pearson’s Exact Chi-Square tests were used for the analyses of cross tables.

Results: The main finding of the study is that the values of HbA1c, triglyceride, HDL and LDL were significantly better and the rate of achieving target HbA1c and HDL values was significantly higher in the group of patients with high motivation and knowledge according to the Morisky scale. Backward stepwise analysis indicated that level of education was a factor that affects motivation, and that illiteracy was associated with low motivation (Odd’s ratio:3.02 CI:1.51-6.04, p=0.002). Exercise habit and level of educa- tion were the factors that have an impact on high/low knowledge. The risk of low knowledge was higher in participants with no exer- cise habits (Odd’s ratio:2.91, CI:1.34-6.33, p=0.007). The risk of low knowledge was also higher in illiterate participants (Odd’s ratio:3.25, CI:1.30-8.86, p=0.021).

Conclusion: More attention should be paid to illiterate female patients, in order to ensure their adherence to treatment. To this end, there is a need to cooperate with educational institutions, and to offer easily accessible reading and writing instruction and trai- ning on diabetes and to encourage such patients to get trained.