Religiosity and Adherence to Pharmacotherapy for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among the Elderly in Primary Healthcare Centres in Brazil.

The objective was to analyse the association between the dimensions of religiosity and adherence to pharmacotherapy for type 2 diabetes mellitus among elderly people attending in primary health care centres in a Brazilian municipality. This is a cross-sectional study with 338 elderly people, in which medication adherence and religiosity were investigated using the Brief Medication Questionnaire and the Duke Religious Index, respectively. The sample consisted of 66.3% being females, 51.5% belonging to the age group of 60-69 years and 50.3% self-reported complications resulting from diabetes. Most participants used oral anti-diabetic drugs with 64.8% using metformin and 26.3% using insulin. Medication adherence was 52.4%. There was an association between adherence and the dimensions: organizational religiosity activity (p = 0.02), non-organizational religiosity activity (p < 0.01) and intrinsic religiosity (p < 0.01). The associations between the dimensions of religiosity and adherence highlight the importance of the approach in clinical-care practice for integrity care. Therefore, it is suggested that this be addressed when developing a treatment plan in primary care.