Título

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUMBER OF GLAUCOMA MEDICATIONS, OCULAR SURFACE DISORDER AND TREATMENT ADHERENCE

Objetivo

Determine the relationship of ocular surface disease (OSD), the number of glaucoma medications prescribed and how it influences treatment adherence.

Método

In this cross-sectional study, glaucoma patients were submitted to demographic data collection, completing the OSD Index (OSDI) questionnaire and the glaucoma treatment compliance assessment tool (GTCAT). Ocular surface parameters were assessed by “Keratograph 5M”. Subjects were stratified into 2 groups according to the amount of prescribed ocular hypotensive eye drops (Group 1: one or two classes of medications; Group 2: three or four classes).

Resultado

Twenty-seven eyes of 27 glaucoma patients were included: 17 using 1 or 2 topical medications (group 1) and 10 eyes using 3 or 4 classes (group 2). For the Keratograph assessment, patients using 3 or more medications had significantly smaller tear meniscus height (TMH) (0.27 ± 0.10 vs. 0.43 ± 0.22; P = 0.037) FIGURE 1. Analysis of OSDI questionnaire showed higher scores among group using more hypotensive eye drops (18.67 ± 13.53 vs. 38.82 ± 19.72; P = 0.004) FIGURE 2. Regarding the GTCAT, group 2 had worse scores in components of forgetfulness (P = 0.027) and barriers due to lack of drops (P = 0.031).

Conclusão

The study found that glaucoma patients using more hypotensive eye drops had worse TMH and OSDI scores, compared to those using less topical medications. Patients using 3 or 4 classes of drugs had worse predictors of glaucoma adherence. Despite worse OSD results, there was no significant difference in self-reported side.