Correlation between comfort and medication adherence in people with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: a cross-sectional study.
Rafael Oliveira Pitta Lopes, Simone Paulino Ferreira Coimbra, Hudson Carmo de Oliveira and 3 others
PMID 42484188WHAT IT FOUND
Comfort was not related to medication adherence in 198 adults with type 2 diabetes using oral diabetes drugs or insulin.
Feeling more comfortable did not go with taking diabetes medicines better.
Key findings
01General comfort was not related to medication adherence in the 72 participants using only oral diabetes drugs.
02General comfort was not related to medication adherence in the 126 participants using insulin.
03Comfort domains showed no significant relation to medication adherence in either group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It was a cross-sectional study, so it cannot show that comfort causes adherence or that adherence causes comfort. Comfort was measured once, but the authors note comfort may change rapidly over time, which could make a one-time test miss a relationship. The sample was convenience based from one outpatient service, so it may not represent people with diabetes in other settings. People with advanced complications, disabling conditions, pregnancy, or inability to communicate were excluded, so it says little about those patients. Participants using both oral drugs and insulin were analysed only with the insulin adherence measure, so combined treatment adherence was not fully measured. Comfort was assessed in the healthcare setting, not at home or work where people take medicines.
Declared interests
The paper reports support from CAPES, Brazil, funding code 001. No other conflicts of interest are stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving comfort will improve medication adherence. The study found no relation between comfort and adherence, and its cross-sectional design cannot show that either one causes the other.