Medication adherence of diabetes mellitus patients in Indonesia: A systematic review

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that requires long-term drug therapy. Adherence in taking medication increases the potential to obtain the optimum therapeutic target. Aim: This systematic review aimed to identify and describe medication adherence of diabetes mellitus patients in Indonesia. Methods: A systematic review was carried out on published research articles from three electronic databases (Pubmed, Scopus, and DOAJ). The eligibility criteria were that studies should be cross-sectional designs, and should display the result data of the measurement of medication adherence level of diabetes mellitus patients in Indonesia. A manual search was also carried out using Google Scholar and from the bibliography of the articles found. The risk of bias was assessed using the NIH quality assessment tool for cross-sectional studies. The synthesis of the results was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flowchart. Results: Thirty published research articles were selected. Medication adherence of diabetes mellitus patients in Indonesia had varying levels. It was dominated by the category of low level and non-adherence. The limitations of the evidence used were: small sample size, the majority using only one method to measure adherence, and the validity and reliability tested was only used in a small number of studies. Conclusion: This finding showed that non-adherence to medication was still a problem for patients undergoing diabetes mellitus treatment in Indonesia.