Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, 325 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104-2499, USA.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2014 Jun 13;14:79. doi: 10.1186/1471-2415-14-79.
One barrier to patient adherence with chronic topical glaucoma treatment is an inadequate amount of medication available between prescription refills. We examined the self-reported prevalence of early exhaustion of glaucoma eye drops prior to a scheduled refill, and associated risk factors.
This cross-sectional survey was performed at a University-based clinical practice. Glaucoma patients at the University of Washington who were experienced with eye drop application and were on a steady regimen of self-administered glaucoma drops in both eyes took a survey at the time of clinic examination. The main outcome measure was self-reported early eye drop bottle exhaustion.
236 patients were eligible and chose to participate. In general, patients included were relatively healthy (mean 2.3 comorbid medical conditions). Sixty patients (25.4%) reported any problem with early exhaustion of eye drop bottles, and this was associated with visual acuity ≤ 20/70 in the better eye (P = .049). Twelve patients (5.1%) reported that they "often" (5-7 times per year), "usually" (8-11 times per year) or "always" ran out of eye drops prior to a scheduled refill. Patients affected by this higher level (≥ 5 times yearly) of eye drop bottle exhaustion were more likely to have poor visual acuity in their worse eye ≤ 20/70 (P = .015) and had significantly lower worse-eye logMAR (P = .043).
Self-reported early glaucoma bottle exhaustion regularly affected 5% of patients in our population and 25% reported early exhaustion at least once; the main risk factor was poor vision in at least one eye. These results may not be generalizable to a broad patient population, or to those inexperienced with eye drop self-administration. However, this pilot study compels further evaluation and consideration of early eye drop bottle exhaustion in glaucoma patients.
患者对慢性局部青光眼治疗的依从性的一个障碍是处方补充之间可用的药物量不足。我们检查了在预定的补充之前提前报告的青光眼滴眼液过早用尽的发生率，以及相关的危险因素。
这项横断面调查是在一个基于大学的临床实践中进行的。在华盛顿大学，有经验的眼药水滴注且双眼都在稳定使用自我管理的青光眼滴眼剂的青光眼患者在诊所检查时接受了调查。主要结局指标是自我报告的早期滴眼瓶用尽。
236 名患者符合条件并选择参加。一般来说，患者相对健康（平均有 2.3 种合并症）。60 名患者（25.4％）报告有任何早期眼药瓶用尽的问题，这与较好眼的视力≤20/70 有关（P=0.049）。12 名患者（5.1％）报告他们“经常”（每年 5-7 次），“通常”（每年 8-11 次）或“总是”在预定的补充之前用完眼药水。受这种较高水平（每年≥5 次）眼药瓶用尽影响的患者，较差眼的视力更可能≤20/70（P=0.015），并且较差眼的对数视力（logMAR）明显较低（P=0.043）。
在我们的人群中，自我报告的早期青光眼瓶衰竭经常影响 5％的患者，25％的患者至少报告了一次早期衰竭；主要的危险因素是至少一只眼视力不佳。这些结果可能不适用于广泛的患者群体，或那些不熟悉眼药水自我管理的患者。然而，这项初步研究促使我们进一步评估和考虑青光眼患者的早期滴眼瓶用尽问题。
