Diabetic patients who do not take their oral medications regularly have an increased risk of being hospitalized within a year.

According to the data, the risk of hospitalisation in type 2 diabetics who were non-adherent to their oral medications increased by more than twofold.Not only the patients who stopped their medications completely were at a higher risk of being hospitalised but also patients who obtained less than 80 per cent of their scheduled doses had twice the risk of being hospitalised than those who stuck to their treatment regime.
The increased risk of hospitalisation remained strong even after considering the effect of other illnesses and the patients' adherence to high blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications.Non-adherence to high blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications was seen in 19 per cent and 29 per cent of study subjects, respectively, but was not significantly associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation.
September 2004
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