Over half of people with type 2 diabetes who are prescribed metformin are not taking their treatment, a report by the NPS reveals.

The review of almost 10,000 people with type 2 diabetes found that:

• 45% of patients were adherent with metformin treatment
• 13% were unintentionally non-adherent
• 42% were intentionally non-adherent
• 11% failed to fill a second prescription
• 9% of patients who had two or more prescriptions filled discontinued treatment.

In the survey results published in its Annual Evaluation report the NPS said the main barriers to patient adherence were lack of trust in their GP; inherent beliefs regarding the benefit and harm of the medication; lack of time with their GP to discuss side effects; and having no strategy for refilling their medication.

“With the increasing prevalence of diabetes in the population, medication non-adherence poses a significant public health problem to both patient health outcomes and to secondary healthcare costs,” the report concluded.

“Strategies are required to address both patient and provider related barriers to medication adherence” it said.