According to a Scottish study reported at the ADA meeting, only one out of three people with type 2 diabetes take their oral medication as prescribed. Only one-third of people had their prescriptions filled often enough to take at least 90% of their pills, the researchers said. People who were supposed to take two different kinds of anti-diabetes pills did even worse: only 13% of them filled their prescriptions often enough to take their prescribed doses.

The study surveyed 3 years' of prescription records of 3,000 people with type 2 diabetes. The analysis showed that people who were supposed to take one pill a day did the best; the more pills that were prescribed, the worse people followed the directions. In Scotland, the government pays for all prescribed medications, so the cost of drugs was not a factor.

The ADA reminds us that following a treatment plan and controlling blood glucose levels have been shown to prevent both short-term and long-term complications of diabetes.