The validity and reliability survey of the eight item morisky medication adherence scale in Turkish diabetic patients and evaluation of correlation between diabetes mellitus medication adherence predictors and the eight item morisky medication adherence scale.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common disorder, causing undesirable medical and economic consequences. Poor glisemic control is leading to increased mortality and morbidity with significant direct and indirect costs to the healthcare system for this reason effective DM treatment is essential. Non adherence to treatment is one of the most major problems of physicians. Several studies have concluded that medication adherence among type 2 DM patients is unsatisfactory. A simple, reliable and validated self-report instrument could lead a better understanding of non adherence and may lead up new treatment modalities. For this purpose that the eight item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) was developed. The MMAS-8 has been validated in some studies in patients with DM. However, there is no studies have been conducted in Turkish populations, and the scale has not been validated in Turkey. This is the first study the MMAS-8 validation and reliability survey in patients with diabetes in Turkey. The aim of this study was evaluate the validity and reliability of MMAS-8 in Turkish diabetes mellitus patients and investigate correlation between Diabetes Mellitus disease medication adherence predictors (Hemoglobin A1c and Fasting Plasma Glucose) and The eight item Morisky Medication adherence Scale. 199 patients, diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus for at least one year, applied to Department of Internal Medicine, Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine and they were all included in our study. Several surveys were conducted for the patients. Blood samples for fasting glucose and HBa1c were drawn. As a result of our study, we have shown that Turkish adaption of MMAS-8 is reliable and validated. (Cronbach alpha co efficient 0,782). The specifity of MMAS-8 is 81% and the sensitivity is 61% in our study. Also, occupation, BMI, disease duration, and treatment methods are observed as significant factors that affects the total score of MMAS-8. ( respectively p = 0.022, 0.04, 0.038, 0.011). Total score average of MMAS-8 was 4.3 . This score has shown that the adherence to treatment of the patients is low in our study. A statistically significant relationship was observed between Hba1c level and MMAS-8 score. (pearson's correlation coefficient - 0.526 ) In conclusion , MMAS-8 is a reliable and validated adherence survey which can be successfully adapted to Turkish. It is also as efficient as Hba1c and fasting plasma glucose in determining the treatment adherence in diabetic patients. MMAS-8 can be used as a practical and an alternative method to evaluate the treatment level in diabetic patients when Hba1c is not reacheable.