Patients prefer once-daily glaucoma drops.
BACKGROUND
The relationship between complexity of eye drop regime and compliance is not straightforward, i.e. fewer drops may not mean better compliance. We investigated the level of inconvenience different eye drop regimes incurred in comparison with a once-daily (OD) regime for patients experienced with using topical anti-glaucoma medication.


METHODS
Patients indicated the level of inconvenience from drop regimes of 1, 2, 3 or 4 times daily on 10-cm visual analogue scales. The score for the OD regime was then compared with the scores for the other regimes using paired t-tests with Bonferroni correction.


RESULTS
At a significance limit of p = 0.05, five of six subgroups indicated once-a-day drops were significantly more convenient than other regimes. Patients who had used the OD regime considered this difference greater than those who had not.


CONCLUSIONS
This study's results offer some pragmatic guidance on choice of therapy and on counselling patients about compliance. We would suggest starting patients on OD drops in preference to alternatives to promote compliance.
Buller
Alex J
AJ
Stepping Hill Hospital, Poplar Grove, Stockport, Cheshire, UK. alexbuller@mac.com
Morgan
Laurence H
LH
Hercules
Brian L
BL
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions