PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Z Zhou
AU  - R Althin
AU  - B S Sforzolini
AU  - R Dhawan
TI  - Persistency and treatment failure in newly diagnosed open angle glaucoma patients in the United Kingdom
AID  - 10.1136/bjo.2003.037713
DP  - 2004 Nov 01
TA  - British Journal of Ophthalmology
PG  - 1391--1394
VI  - 88
IP  - 11
4099  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/88/11/1391.short
4100  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/88/11/1391.full
SO  - Br J Ophthalmol2004 Nov 01; 88
AB  - Aim: To determine utilisation patterns and calculate treatment failure and discontinuation rates in patients with open angle glaucoma treated in the United Kingdom with any of six groups of intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering agents. Methods: The UK General Practice Research Database was used to identify newly diagnosed (after 1 January 1997) open angle glaucoma patients who were naive to therapy with any of six index drug groups: carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, latanoprost, miotics, sympathomimetics, timolol, and other (non-timolol) β blockers. Analyses included drug treatment data for 1 year following diagnosis. Outcomes were (1) time to therapy failure, defined as either change in index drug (replacement or addition of therapy) or patient referral for surgery, and (2) time to therapy discontinuation, defined as either therapy failure or no refill of the index drug in a period twice that covered by the first prescription fill. Cox proportional hazard regression and Kaplan-Meier and life table methods were used to compare groups. Results: Among the 2001 eligible patients, a β blocker other than timolol was the most widely prescribed (42%), followed by timolol (32%), carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (10%), and latanoprost (7%). Compared to latanoprost, those treated with any alternative agent were significantly more likely to fail (p⩽0.005 for each comparison) and to discontinue (p⩽0.05 for each comparison) therapy. Failure rates ranged from 13% (latanoprost) to 45% (sympathomimetics), and discontinuation rates ranged from 30% (latanoprost) to 63% (miotics). Conclusion: Latanoprost treated patients demonstrated lower rates of therapy failure and therapy discontinuation compared with patients treated with other widely used IOP lowering medications, including β blockers.