Background: Medication adherence (MA) is a key component to prevent complications of diabetes mellitus. Patients with better medication understanding (MU) showed higher MA. While there were numerous studies of MA in Chinese patients, there has not been any MU study.

Objective: To assess the associations of MA and MU in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). To translate and validate the Chinese version of the Medication Understanding Questionnaire (C-MUQ).

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 384 Chinese T2D patients. The MA was assessed using the proportion of days covered (PDC), and the MU was assessed using the C-MUQ. The multiple logistic regression was applied to simultaneously assess the association of MA (good or poor MA) with MU and other contributing factors including the sociodemographic characteristics and clinical conditions of patients.

Results: The average PDC of study patients was 89.78% (SD 14.75%), and 77.08% of the patients were classified into the good MA group (PDC is 80% or greater). Based on multiple logistic regression as good MA as dependent variable, factors significantly associated with good MA were not long durations of diabetes, not using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products, and the interaction effect of high education level and good MU. The adjusted odd ratio (AOR) were 0.28 (95% CI 0.10 to 0.79) for 25 years or more of diabetes durations, 0.33 (95% CI 0.12 to 0.89) for using TCM products, 3.28 (95% CI 1.94 to 8.62) for high education with poor MU, 4.09 (95% CI 1.46 to 7.36) for low education with good MU, and 5.32 (95% CI 2.49 to 11.34) for high education with good MU, respectively.

Conclusion: To achieve good MA, the Chinese health professionals should concern about improving MU, especially in the low education patients.

Keywords: Medication understanding, Medication adherence, Type 2 diabetes

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2020.10.10920

Received 22 January 2020 | Revised 5 May 2020 | Accepted 18 May 2020