Introduction: The knowledge about level of adherence to oral antibiotic treatment in diabetic patients with ulcer infection could be essential as a method of evaluation/monitoring of conservative treatment. Aim: To assess the adherence to oral antibiotic treatment in outpatients with diabetic foot infection (soft tissue vs. osteomyelitis) by 8-item structured, self-reported medication adherence scale. Methods: cross-sectional study was carried out with 46 consecutive patients who had diabetic foot infection (soft tissue or bone infection) and required antibiotic oral treatment at outpatient clinical setting. Medication adherence was tested using the Spanish version of the validated eight-item self-report MMAS-8. Results: patients with diabetic ulcer infection, had well level of adherence to antibiotic medication (7 ± 1.2 vs. 7.4 ± 1.5). Patients with lower level of adherence had lower level of satisfaction with the antibiotic medication. The profile of the patients with lower level of adherence were patients with primary level of education and patient who required more help to take the medication. Conclusion: Patients with diabetic foot infection demonstrated well level of adherence to antibiotic medication, independently of type of infection (soft tissue vs. osteomyelitis) by 8-item structured, self-reported medication adherence scale.
Keywords: diabetic foot; diabetic foot infection; diabetic foot osteomyelitis; medication adherence; oral antibiotic.