Some patients stop treatment when variables improve

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1449-c

BMJ 2005;330:1449-1450 (18 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1449-c

Letter

Some patients stop treatment when variables improve

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Lawton et al describe perceptions of oral hypoglycaemicagents among people of Pakistani and Indian origin.¹ We haveobserved another phenomenon quite often among patients. Whentreatment is started in asymptomatic patients with high bloodpressure or high plasma glucose picked up on screening the generalpopulation, some patients believe that the treatment is necessaryonly to bring the blood pressure or the plasma glucose withinthe normal range. At review they say that they have stoppedtaking the treatment because they were told that blood pressureor plasma glucose concentration had been normal the previoustime. We find ourselves repeating the message that the bloodpressure, blood glucose, or the HbA₁C is within the normal rangebecause of the treatment; hence if they stop taking the drugsthe variables will go up again. We have observed this phenomenonmore in South Asians than white people.

Although . . . [Full text of this article]

K Kain, senior lecturer in community diabetes

k.kain@leeds.ac.uk
Academic Unit of Molecular Vascular Medicine Level 7, The LIGHT Laboratories, Clarendon Way, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT

A J Catto, senior lecturer

Academic Unit of Molecular Vascular Medicine Level 7, The LIGHT Laboratories, Clarendon Way, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT

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Perceptions and experiences of taking oral hypoglycaemic agents among people of Pakistani and Indian origin: qualitative study: Julia Lawton, Naureen Ahmad, Nina Hallowell, Lisa Hanna, and Margaret Douglas
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