Monitoring individual compliance in glaucoma patients used to topical therapy

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: Individual compliance with Brimonidine eye drops was studied in glaucoma patients and ocular hypertensives. Methods: Conventional Brimonidine vials were equipped with a microprocessor‐controlled monitoring device capable to record date and time of each eye drop application including ambient temperature. After written informed consent, glaucoma and ocular hypertensive patients used to eye drop therapy were randomly assigned to Brimonidine therapy b.i.d or t.i.d daily for 4 weeks. Results: Twenty six males and fourteen females aged 69 ± 11 years [42‐89] were enrolled in this study. According to the monitoring devices all patients were non‐compliant with regard to total dose and coverage. Electronic records revealed a mean of 1.5 (range: 1.1‐2.0) applications per day for patients assigned to Brimonidine 2x daily with a mean treatment interval of 16.8 hours (range: 12.1‐22.2 h). Patients on Brimonidine 3x daily showed a mean rate of 1.9 (range: 1.8‐2.7) applications per day and a mean treatment interval of 11.9 h (range: 9.1‐13.9 h). One patient discontinued therapy after day 7 (12 applications) and one after day 1 (1 application only). No difference was observed between IOP at baseline and after one month (p=0.16). Conclusions: The monitoring devices permit to detect individual non‐compliance with regard to missed doses, non‐treatment intervals. Our data confirm the need for larger studies on individual compliance with topical ocular therapy in glaucoma.