People who stick to their diabetes treatment reduce hospital visits

According to a new study in the United States, those people who rigorously stick to their diabetes medication reduce their chances of being hospitalised by a third compared to those who don’t.
The large-scale survey involved over 15,000 commercially insured people with a diabetes diagnosis medical claim who were monitored over the period of one year, and was conducted by Prime Therapeutics and published in the Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. Of those reviewed, 73.9 per cent were found to adhere to their medication, while 26.1 per cent failed to.
With over 23 million Americans having been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, and a further 1.6 million being diagnosed each year, there are concerns regarding a lack of adherence to taking medication, especially because of increased medical costs and its negative effect on the effectiveness of the medication.
Patrick Gleaso, director of clinical outcomes assessment at Prime Therapeutics, commented “Our research found adherent individuals had USD1,010 lower medical costs during the year.”
He added “Besides the medical cost savings, patients that adhere to their medications are likely to have improved health and increased quality of life . Yet in this study, we found one-quarter of patients do not stick to their diabetes medication, so the medical community must find ways to increase adherence for those most at-risk.”