Factors Influencing Patient Acceptability of Diabetes Treatment Regimens
Jayant Dey, MD, Lawrence Blonde, MD, and Richard Guthrie, Jr., MD. Clinical Diabetes Vol. 18 No. 2. Spring 2000
Compliance With Diabetes Treatment
This paper is a straightforward discussion of two points: (1) the evidence linking adherence to a diabetes treatment regimen and protection from the complications of that disorder and (2) the aspects of antidiabetic agents likely to have an impact on patient compliance, especially side effects, hypoglycemia, and frequency of administration.
Commentary
While the immediate value of this article has lessened with the passage of time (e.g., its discussion of troglitazone (Rezulin) became moot for clinicians once Rezulin was withdrawn from the U.S. market, I’ve featured it here because much of the data remains helpful and, more significantly, I was struck by the utility this format offers. Clinicians in any field are likely to be familiar with the relative effectiveness and primary contraindications of any of the medications they routinely prescribe but are less likely to have the data necessary to make a careful analysis of the factors that could lead to noncompliance in a given patient. While tables laying out the results of well constructed studies directly assessing adherence to specific regimens would be ideal, such information is rarely available because well done adherence trials are themselves rare. The next best information, however, is the type identified in this article and is readily available.