Adherence to insulin self administration and associated factors among diabetes mellitus patients at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital

BACKGROUND: The goals of diabetes treatment are to keep blood glucose levels as near normal as possible while avoiding complications. Despite the benefits of insulin therapy, many people with diabetes don’t adhere to treatment. Some avoid insulin therapy or refuse to start it. Several studies investigating adherence to chronic disease treatment have evidenced that patients often discontinue their medications or even do not take them at all because they consider them ineffective or experience untoward side effects. To assess adherence to insulin self administration and associated factors among adult patients with diabetes mellitus at endocrinology unit of Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital Addis Ababa Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from December to June 2015, on a total of 378 diabetic patients on insulin self administration using convenience sampling method. The data was collected using structured questionnaires after ethical approval and informed signed consent have been taken. The data entry and analysis was conducted using Epi info version 3.5.4 and SPSS version 21. RESULTS: One hundred twenty five (33.1%) of the respondents were found to be non-adherent to insulin self injection. Multivariate analysis identified who stopped taking insulin when they feel better, who have Heart disease and those not taking insulin when they were out of home for long time as independent factors for non adherence of insulin self administration. CONCLUSION: The factors associated with non adherence to insulin self administrations were; forgetting time of injection, deliberately, feeling better and feeling worse.