Prevalence of Using Polypharmacy in Diabetic Treatment among Diabetic Patients Type II in Phatthalung Province

Abstract

This hospital-based descriptive study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of polypharmacy in the treatment of patients with diabetis mellitus type II in Phatthalung province. There were 20,809 patients were diagnosed as diabetes mellitus type II by physicians in the province; and were registered in Phatthalung provincial chronic disease database and the 43-folder record of structured standardized database per formed by hospitals under monitoring and supervision by Phatthalung Provincial Health Office. Exclusion criteria were no results of glycemic hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) and not receiving oral diabetic medicine during the study. Altogether 8,322 diabetic patients were enrolled in the study. The data was gathered between January and December 2015. The variables were defined as using diabetic polypharmacy and total polypharmacy. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that 55.08% of diabetic patients took 2 or more diabetic medicines during treatment. An average of taking diabetic medicine was 1.6 (SD=0.58) items. Furthermore, 56.91 percent of diabetic patients with comorbidity and complication took 5 or more total medicines during treatment. An average of taking total medicine was 5.35 (SD=2.64) items. The results suggested that health staff working and responsible at diabetic care clinics should monitor and inspect about drug related problems and undesirable clinical outcomes in pa tients with diabetic polypharmacy or total polypharmacy.