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Abstract

Purpose :
To assess levels of compliance in patients on ocular medications for glaucoma and ocular hypertension, determine the common obstacles to medication adherence and develop strategies to help reduce non-compliance.

Methods :
Prospective cohort study of consecutive patients who attended a treatment and concordance glaucoma specialist outpatient clinic of St Thomas’ Hospital in central London. Patients were asked how compliant they had been with their ocular medication over the last month. Reasons for non-compliance were recorded as well as data on age, gender, ethnicity, diagnosis, visual field severity and physical health conditions

Results :
Data were collected for fifty patients, median (IQR) age: 69 (56, 79) years, 50% were female, 34% White Caucasian and 52% Black. Twenty six patients (52%) reported non compliance, median (IQR) age: 75 (59, 82) years, 42% White Caucasian: 42% Black. Gender was similar between the compliant and non compliant groups, visual field severity was worse in the non-compliant group than the compliant group: mean total deviation (SD) in the worse eye: -11.7dB (10.2), compared -9.4dB (7.7). Four subjects reported having physical problems in the non-compliant group compared to one in the compliant group. Figure 1 shows the frequency of drops missed over the last month for the non compliant group. Reasons reported for missing drops comprised: forgetting to use the drops (42%), not using the correct regime (11.5%), problems obtaining the drops (7.7%) and had run out of drops (7.7%).

Conclusions :
A significant number of patients in our study report poor compliance with their drop regime, with the majority of these missing medication multiple times per month. In our study, this group were older, with greater glaucoma severity. As glaucoma progression has been shown to be linked to poor compliance with medication this may have implications for the future management and subsequent quality of life for these patients. Further work is needed in identifying patients who could be targeted for more affective individualized adherence management plans.

Publication Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Additional Information:	This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RE Ophthalmology
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Optometry & Visual Sciences

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