Abstract
BACKGROUND: Visual analogue scale (VAS) is one of the simplest to measure medication adherence. It has neither been widely used for Non communicable diseases (NCD) nor validated for in the Indian setting. We examined the validity of self-reported medication adherence measures in relation to HbA1C in a rural population with diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS: Participants with DM was administered VAS, Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DMSQ) and assessed for missed pills. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were done. RESULTS: We recruited 1347 participants and 84% of them reported being 100% adherent as per VAS and 83.8% stated that they did not miss any pills. However, 58.2% of participants who reported having 100% adherence had poor glycaemic control, as did 58.1% of those who did not miss any pills. None of the diabetic self-care measures was significantly associated with glycaemic control. CONCLUSION: We found a lack of association between self-reported adherence measures and glycaemic control in participants with DM suggesting that self-reported adherence scales may not be valid in this population.