Comparative Study of Brimonidine and Timolol in Treatment of Glaucoma

Abstract

Glaucoma is the condition where the intraocular pressure of the eyeball increases more than normal.There are mainly two types of glaucoma 1 . Primary open angle glaucoma, 2. Primary angle closure glaucoma Population affected with primary open angle glaucoma is large. Treatment includes alpha selective adrenergic agents, sympatholytic agents and other drugs. The most commonly used drugs in the Govt General Hospital, Vijayawada, A.P were sympatholytic agents and alpha selective adrenergic drugs .So we carried out the study comparing the efficacy cost effectiveness and adverse drug reactions between timolol 0.5% eye drops and brimonidine tartarate 0.2% eye drops in primary open angle glaucoma. It was a comparative, randomized, prospective study .100 patients were recruited and they were randomly divided in group A and group B.Group A was given timolol 0.5% eye drops and group B was given brimonidine tartarate 0.2% eye drops.The patients were observed during 1 st week ,2 nd week ,4 th week ,8 th week,12 th week,16 th ,20 th and 24 th week .In the early weeks, Brimonidine tartarate effectively decreased intraocular pressure but in the later weeks timolol reduced more effectively than brimonidine.'P' value was significant. Timolol was cheaper than brimonidine and adverse effects were also less. So, it was concluded that timolol was most effective both in reducing the symptoms and in cost effectiveness when compared to brimonidine in the management of primary open angle glaucoma. Adverse effects were also less for timolol .So it was a better drug in the management if primary open angle glaucoma when compared to brimonidine.