Association between Functional Status and Treatment Adherence among Elderly Suffering from Diabetes Mellitus

Shyama Devi; Azhar S.M.; Deevanshi .; Rhythm kapoor; Khushbu Kumari; Akhila V.S.; Pooja katiyar

Abstract

The burden of diabetes mellitus(DM) is rising disproportionately in the world. Elderly population is moreprone for chronic and recurrent illness like DM which may require long term treatment. Non-adherencein this age group accounts for substantial worsening of functional status. Little knowledge is availableregarding association between functional status and treatment adherence among elderly. The aim is toassess the functional status and its association with treatment adherence among elderly with diabetes. Across sectional study was conducted on 75 elderly (>60 years) attending outpatient department. Datawere collected with Morisky’s scale and Kartz index. The data were analysed by using descriptive andinferential statistics. Out of 75 participants, 5 (6.7%) had low adherence to the anti-diabetic treatment,39 (52%) had moderate adherence while 31 (41.3%) were highly adherent to treatment. Among thefunctional, 9 (12%) were fully dependent and 35 (46.7%) were partially dependent on activities of dailyliving. The variable associated with functional status is age and with treatment adherence is education.There is significance difference between mean of treatment adherence among independent and dependentgroup which shows dependant group is less adherent to treatment. The study revealed low or moderatelevel of adherence among functionally dependant patients. Efforts are needed to increase the treatmentadherence among functionally dependant elderly with DM with the support of care givers. The findingsof the study will help the future researcher to explore the role of care givers in treatment adherence amongdependent elderly and a similar study could be replicated with a larger sample and in community settings.