Comparisons of Self-reported Glaucoma Medication Adherence With a New Wireless Device: A Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Digital Health
• Medication Adherence

Background:

• Glaucoma medication adherence is crucial for managing intraocular pressure and preventing vision loss.
• Accurate assessment of medication adherence is challenging with traditional self-reported methods.
• Wireless monitoring devices offer a potential solution for objective adherence tracking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare topical medication use recorded by a wireless monitoring device against validated self-reported measures of glaucoma medication adherence.
• To evaluate the usability and patient acceptance of a novel wireless adherence monitoring device.

Main Methods:

• Adult glaucoma patients used a wireless device to dispense topical medications for two months.
• Subjects completed surveys at baseline and endpoint assessing mobile phone use, self-efficacy, and medication adherence.
• Data from the device and self-reports were analyzed for adherence rates and agreement.

Main Results:

• The wireless device provided real-time medication dispensing data for 23 subjects over 60 days.
• Median adherence measured by the device was 82%, with a slight decrease over time.
• Significant differences were observed between device-measured adherence (78.3% to 52.2%) and self-reported adherence (63% to 56%), with low agreement.

Conclusions:

• The wireless monitoring device (Kali Drop) functioned as expected, capturing real-time medication use.
• Self-reported and electronic adherence estimates for glaucoma medications appear to differ.
• Further validation studies are necessary to confirm the findings of this pilot study.