A recent study co-ordinated by Dr Andrew Morris, senior lecturer in medicine, has shown that two thirds of people with Type 2 diabetes are not taking their medication prescribed to control the condition.
New treatment for diabetes called for Type 2 diabetes is more commonly found in adults in later life when their pancreas begins to fail and stops producing as much insulin - the controller of sugar levels in the blood - as the body needs. This means that people with type 2 diabetes, in order to control their sugar levels, need to plan their mealtimes carefully and, in many cases, take a regime of tablets throughout the day. However, this recent study suggests that as many as 153,840 people in Scotland with this type of diabetes could be risking their health by not taking their total complement of medication.
"This is an alarming situation as failing to effectively control your diabetes increases the risk of long-term complications such as blindness, heart disease and kidney failure," said Delia Henry, National Manager at the British Diabetic Association (BDA). "It is vital that both healthcare professionals and those with diabetes are fully aware of the serious implications of not taking the necessary medication."
These initial results were unveiled for the first time at last month's annual conference of the British Diabetic Association (BDA) and show that as many as two in three people are not collecting their prescribed tablets.
The consequences of not taking oral medication to help manage diabetes, in the long-term, can be potentially fatal as diabetes specialist Dr Andrew Morris explained: "People affected by Type 2 diabetes gradually lose the ability to control their blood sugar levels which means an increased risk of serious long-term complications, including heart disease, blindness and kidney problems."
This is the first major research study to investigate the problem in the real world rather than in a clinical trial, and tracked 3,000 people with Type 2 diabetes over a three year period to assess how much of their prescribed diabetes tablets they used.
Giving his backing to a call by the BDA for urgent action to remedy the situation, Dr Andrew Morris added: "Many patients with Type 2 diabetes are on complex treatment regimens, and it would appear from these new findings that the simpler the treatment the easier it is for the patient. We need to make every effort to help patients stick to their treatment for this common condition to reduce the serious long-term complications" he concluded.
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