Adherence to insulin therapy and associated factors among patients with diabetes mellitus in public hospitals of Central Zone of Tigray, Ethiopia, 2018: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Adherence to insulin therapy is a critical factor for adequate control of diabetes mellitus. Despite the multiple well-known benefits of adherence to insulin therapy, poor adherence remains to be a common cause of diabetes mellitus-related complications. A better management of diabetes mellitus requires determining the level of patient adherence and identifying why non-adherence to insulin therapy occurs. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the level of adherence to insulin therapy and associated factors among diabetes mellitus patients. METHODS: The study was conducted from May 1 to July 1, 2018, using a cross-sectional study design. Interviewer-administered questionnaire was employed for data collection and systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. The collected data were entered using Epi data version 3.1.1 and exported to SPSS version 22 for analysis. Logistic analysis was carried out to check the level of association between adherence to insulin therapy and the independent variables with significance level of 0.05 at 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: 273 respondents were selected with a 100% response rate. Near to one-fourth (24.2%) of the respondents were adherent to their insulin therapy. The study revealed that good knowledge of diabetes mellitus [AOR=6.51; 95% CI [1.58, 26.71], age [>30 years] [AOR=2.63; 95% CI [1.27, 5.42], knowledge regarding insulin self-injection [AOR=4.21; 95%CI [1.06,16.65], favorable attitude towards insulin injection [AOR=2.14; 95% CI [1.04,4.41], free-of-cost insulin therapy [AOR= 4.62, 95% CI [1.06,16.65], having of glucometer at home [AOR= 2.82, 95% CI [1.12,7.09], and being a member of Ethiopian diabetic association [AOR= 5.41, 95% CI [2.31,12.64] were found to significantly affect adherence to insulin therapy. CONCLUSION: Nearly one-fourth of the study participants were adherent to their insulin therapy. Good knowledge and favorable attitude towards insulin injection, good knowledge regarding diabetes mellitus, being a member of the Ethiopian Diabetes Association, age greater than thirty years old, free-of-cost insulin therapy and having glucometer at home were found to be significant predictors of adherence to insulin therapy.