Why carry out this study?

As type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) medication adherence has been reported to be lower than that to other diseases, elucidating factors that influence adherence is important.

Previous reports might have been influenced by patients’ psychological biases and may not have taken into account who is managing and helping patients take their medication. Therefore, the exact factors need to be clarified.

We investigated the factors affecting medication adherence in patients with T2DM using pill counting in a situation where the patient’s psychological bias is low.

What was learned from this study?

Poor adherence was associated with lower number of chronic diseases and higher number of oral hypoglycemic agents.

Medication-related factors were nonindependent factors of adherence.

In addition, increasing the number of doses per day, taking medications at lunch, and α-glucosidase inhibitors may be factors associated with poor adherence.