Patient-reported tolerability issues with oral antidiabetic agents: Associations with adherence; treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life.

AIMS: The study's aim was to quantify prevalence of tolerability issues among patients with T2DM currently treated with OADs and to assess its association with treatment adherence, satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQL). METHODS: Data were collected from the 2006-2008 US National Health and Wellness Survey and the Ailment Panel of Lightspeed Online Research, an internet-based questionnaire. Participants (N=2074) self-reported a diagnosis of T2DM, were >18 years of age and currently taking >1 OADs but not insulin, and spoke English. RESULTS: The majority (71.7%) experienced at least 1 tolerability issue in the past 2 weeks; 49.7% experienced >2. Tolerability issues included signs/symptoms of hypoglycemia (57.2%), constipation/diarrhea (28%), headaches (25.6%), weight gain (22.9%) and water retention (21.0%). There was a significant association between the number of tolerability issues and both the likelihood of non-adherence (r=0.20, p<0.01) and reduced treatment satisfaction (r=-0.42, p<0.01). Each additional tolerability issue was associated with 28% greater likelihood of medication non-adherence. Constipation/diarrhea (b=-0.02, p<0.01) and symptoms of hypoglycemia (b=-0.08, p<0.01) were significantly associated with lower HRQL scores. CONCLUSIONS: Optimizing OAD therapy of T2DM by improving tolerability may increase patient satisfaction, medication adherence and HRQL, and may increase the likelihood of attaining treatment goals.