Abstract
Purpose::
To compare rates of pharmacotherapy compliance in patients with ocular hypertension (OH) and patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).
Methods::
Retrospective analysis of a nationally representative, multi-managed health plan database (PharMetrics; 1998-2005) of patients with OH and POAG who had at least one year of continuous enrollment. Medication coverage was defined as the percent of days during which a patient was in possession of IOP-lowering therapy over the first year of follow-up (medication coverage=number of covered days/365). Analyses were conducted in all patients and subsequently in patients with at least one prescription for IOP-lowering medication during the first year of follow-up.
Results::
The study population consisted of 36,767 OHTN patients and 72,412 POAG patients. POAG patients had slightly longer mean total years of follow-up (3.5, SD=1.4) than OHTN patients (3.3, SD=1.4; p<0.0001). Unadjusted, the mean medication coverage for the POAG cohort was significantly higher (37%, SD=0.32) than the mean coverage for the OHTN cohort (5%, SD=0.16; p<0.0001). Of the OHTN cohort, only 13.1% of patients filled at least one prescription, as compared to 73.2% of the POAG cohort. Of patients who filled at least one prescription, mean coverage was 50% for the POAG cohort (SD=0.26) and 40% for the OHTN cohort (SD=0.25; p<0.0001).
Conclusions::
Patients with POAG, a more severe condition, were significantly more compliant with pharmacotherapies than patients with OHTN. It is important to implement strategies to help improve patient compliance prior to occurrence of more severe disease.
Keywords: vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease • intraocular pressure