New Delhi: Altogether approximately 77 million suffer from diabetes, making the country home to the second largest population living with diabetes in the world. The widespread and growing trend of diabetes is a growing public health threat. This can be attributed to a number of factors, including lifestyle changes due to rapid urbanization, which can lead to decreased physical activity, changes in dietary habits, and the emergence of environments that contribute to obesity.
To effectively manage diabetes, good control of blood sugar is imperative. This can be achieved by combining healthy lifestyle behaviors and anti-diabetic treatments. However, despite advances in diabetes management, about 76.6 percent of people living with diabetes in India still report uncontrolled blood sugar levels. This is mainly driven by non-adherence to treatment, which is a well-documented problem in diabetes care. Significant issues with adherence persist not only to diabetes, but also across geographies and medical fields, leading to non-optimal care and delays in recovery.
[i] In addition to continuous advances in healthcare technologies and the regular launch of new drugs every year, according to WHO, the most effective intervention to improve the health of the overall population is to increase adherence to treatment.
[ii] Today, addressing non-adherence should be an important priority so that as many people as possible can stay within the desired glucose range.
There are many reasons for poor medication adherence, including lack of access to health care resources, complex drug regimens and frequent pill use, fear of side effects, poor understanding of the condition, and more. For example, 40 percent of adults have difficulty swallowing pills, 14 percent of whom delay taking their medicine, and 8 percent even skip doses altogether. This may be affected by the design of the tablet – including the shape, surface, edges, or an unpleasant taste or odor, making it difficult to swallow.
In order to improve compliance among people with diabetes, innovation in medicines and the services that go with them can help bridge existing gaps in care. Thus healthcare practitioners can equip patients with the right tools and solutions to simplify the treatment process and empower adherence, leading to better health outcomes. Research has led the way for incremental innovations that reimagine and transform existing treatments to encourage better compliance. An example of this in diabetes care is the single daily pill – an alternative to multiple pills with a more frequent and complex schedule.
To reduce people’s fears about consuming pills, such as the worry of suffocation while taking a pill, pills are now available with a special coating that makes it easier to swallow. In turn, this could make diabetes easier to manage and improve treatment compliance, while helping people achieve better glycemic control.
In addition to such solutions, we should also strengthen other factors that may influence adherence, such as ensuring more meaningful physician-patient consultations, clearly communicating the details of treatments, and suggesting additional interventions such as: Reminders or other personalized solutions that can help patients follow their prescribed treatment exactly. Addressing poor adherence to medications among patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes is an opportunity to maximize health outcomes and the efficiency of health systems. Understanding the drivers of poor adherence and investing in research and shifting care delivery to bridge these gaps with new innovative drugs is the need of the hour. When done on a large scale with the support of multiple stakeholders, it can have huge benefits for the people of India’s diabetes population and healthcare system. It could usher in the era of patient-centered care and help people with diabetes lead healthier lives.
To help people better manage diabetes, my mantra is, “Eat slowly, eat less, eat on time, eat right, walk more, do yoga, sleep well and on time, and do a one-hour digital detox.” Smile together.”
Issued for general awareness by Abbott in the public interest. The information contained in this article is suggestive only and shall not be construed as a substitute for medical advice nor as any recommendation of Abbott. Please consult your doctor for more details.
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