A large, long-term study into glaucoma treatment in the US show patients who consistently take their glaucoma medication are less likely to develop vision loss.
The Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) findings studied patients from 14 centres in the US, randomly chosen to undergo trabeculectomy or receive medication, on a six-monthly basis for up to 10 years.
“It is reassuring when clinical research confirms what we believe to be true,” Optometric Glaucoma Society’s Dr Lisa Young told Healio. “In this case, better medication adherence leads to an improved long-term prognosis for our glaucoma patients.”
The randomised, multi-centre clinical trial included 307 newly diagnosed glaucoma patients. Patients’ follow-up visits included clinical examination and visual field assessment, measured by mean deviation (MD) while medication adherence was self-reported.
142 patients (46%) reported never missing a dose of medication and had an average MD vision loss of 0.62decibels (dB) over eight years, consistent with age-related vision loss. 112 patients (37%) reported missing medication doses at one third of visits and had vision loss of 1.42dB, while 21 patients (7%) reported missing medication doses at two thirds of visits and showed a loss of 2.23dB.
