Metformin Consumption Trends and the Impact of Adherence on the Consumption of Oral Antihyperglycemic Drugs

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia. Diabetes therapy includes non-medicinal and medicinal treatment. Metformin is used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus when controlled diet and exercise are not sufficient to maintain normal blood glucose levels. After 6 months, more than one third of patients, and after one year about 50% of patients with chronic diseases stop the initial treatment. Adherence to oral antidiabetic therapy is in range of 65-85%. Non-adherence in therapy represents a large economic burden. The research was carried out on the territory of the Tuzla Canton, based on collected data on the consumption of antihyperglycemic drugs in 2022 and 2023. A comparison was made of the consumption of antihyperglycemic drugs in 2022 and 2023, in order to obtain the trend of the consumption of the mentioned drugs for the examined period. In addition to the above, a comparison of the consumption of metformin was made in relation to the consumption of other types of oral antihyperglycemic drugs for the years 2022 and 2023. The obtained data show that antihyperglycemic drugs are the most prescribed drugs from the list of drugs and that the largest part of expenditures includes this group of drugs. Metformin was the most prescribed oral antihyperglycemic drug in 2022 and 2023. The above results directly indicate how widespread the use of metformin is in the treatment of diabetes, and how much health care costs can be caused by irrational prescribing and non-adherence to metformin therapy.