Abstract
Purpose :
Patients primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) are required to take long-term treatments with topical medications to halt disease progression. Measuring patients’ acceptance of the use of the eyedrops prescribed should help to better understand and predict their behavior toward treatment. This issue has not been studied in glaucoma patients, especially in low-middle income nations. This cross-sectional survey aimed to describe the level of acceptance of Brazilian patients toward the long-term treatment with eyedrops and to find potential predictors of high acceptance.
Methods :
POAG patient were recruited from the Glaucoma Service - Santa Casa of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Clinical and demographic data were retrieved from participants electronic records. All patients answered the ACCEPT© questionnaire. This is a generic patient-reported outcome questionnaire specifically developed to assess patients’ acceptance of long-term medications. The questionnaire comprises seven independent dimensions: one on general acceptance (Acceptance/General) and six treatment-attribute specific, covering all specific attributes of drug: Acceptance/Medication Inconvenience, Acceptance/Long-term Treatment, Acceptance/Regimen Constraints, Acceptance/Numerous Medications, Acceptance/ Side effects, and Acceptance/Effectiveness. Scores based on categorical/ordinal data are linearly transformed to range from 0 to 100 with a higher score indicating greater acceptance.
Results :
The sample comprised 96 patients with POAG. The mean age was 63.2 ±8.9 years; 48 were male and 48 female; 55 (57.3%) were white, 36 (37.5%) African-Brazilian, and 5 (5.2 %) were of mixed color; most patients (97.9%) had less than high school degree and all had a family income <USD8,000. The mean ACCEPT score was 79.5 ± 6.0.
Conclusions :
In this cohort of Brazilian patients with glaucoma, acceptance of treatment was high. The adequate interpretaion of this data can provide valuable insights about patient priorities and current unmet needs.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.