Adherence and related factors in pregnant women with gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is a metabolic disease that can have multiple maternal and fetal complications. Therapeutic adherence can help controlling blood sugar and reducing its complications. This study investigates the medication adherence among pregnant women and effective factors on it.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 104 pregnant women with gestational diabetes who referred to endocrinology clinic of Shahid Beheshti hospital in Hamadan, Iran, in 2018. Input criteria were those over 18 years of age and output criteria included heart, kidney and thyroid disorders. Medication adherence was evaluated using the Morisky's 6-question questionnaire (MMAS-6). Analyzes were conducted using SPSS version 21 at the significance level of less than 0.05.

Based on the results, 77.9% of the women lived in the city, 65.4% had a college education and 73.1% were housewives. 58.7% of them had good medication adherence. There was the significance relationship between adherence and glycemic control. Address and level of education had a significant relationship with medication adherence. People with higher levels of health literacy had significantly higher medication adherence.

Low education level, rural residence and low health literacy level are determinants of poor medication adherence in pregnant women with gestational diabetes, which indicate the need for more training to these people.