Abstract
Purpose :
There are various commercially available eye drop instillation aids; however, the prevalence of the use and acceptance of these aids is currently unknown. We conducted a prospective, single-site randomized pilot clinical trial to compare patient acceptance of three commercially available eye drop instillation aids in a diverse patient population.
Methods :
Our study included patients 18 years or older and have been treated with constant glaucoma therapy for a minimum of two months. After enrollment, subjects were randomly assigned to Arm A (no intervention) or Arm B (AutoDrop, AutoSqueeze, or SimplyTouch). Subjects in Arm B were further instructed to administer their eye drop with designated drop aid for every use. A satisfaction survey was administered at the first visit post enrollment. Subjects were withdrawn if they were noncompliant with study procedures. A t-test was used to compare mean number of drops missed using each device versus no device.
Results :
Thirty-five of 38 subjects completed study participation and full data analysis. Of those 35, a total of 26 subjects were randomized to drop aids (AutoDrop n=10, AutoSqueeze n=8, SimplyTouch n=8), and 9 were randomized to no drop aid. For the AutoDrop, 60% of patients found instillation easier, and 90% would adopt it long term. Meanwhile, 75% of patients using the AutoSqueeze found instillation easier, and 75% would adopt it long term. Finally, 38% of patients randomized to the SimplyTouch found instillation easier, and 38% would it adopt long term. With the AutoDrop, AutoSqueeze, and SimplyTouch, an average of 1.33, 0.43, and 0.33 drops were missed, respectively, in comparison to 0.89 drops without a drop aid. The mean number of drops missed for each device was not significantly different from the control (p=0.37, p=0.26, p=0.21, respectively).
Conclusions :
This is the first study to compare the use of three eye drop aids in a randomized clinical trial. Across groups, over half of the patients found the devices helpful and would consider using them long-term. In comparing the different drop aids, the AutoSqueeze was the most widely accepted, while the SimplyTouch yielded the lowest compliance. Although this study suggests that patients would be amenable to using drop aid devices, more objective data is needed to determine whether these devices actually improve medication compliance and clinical outcomes.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.