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Prescription trends for preservative free glaucoma medication in a public health system
Pilar Pérez-García1, Bárbara Burgos-Blasco1, Laura Morales-Fernández1
1Ophthalmology Unit, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria del Hospital Clinico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain.
Purpose:
To analyze the prescribing trends over a 7-years period, between 2013 and 2020, in a tertiary hospital (Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain) and its health area.
Material And Methods:
A retrospective study on the data collected from the information systems, "farm@web" and "Farmadrid", of glaucoma prescriptions in the framework of a public health system (Spanish National Health System) during the last seven years.
Results:
Prostaglandin analogues were the most commonly used drugs in monotherapy during the study period (range: 36.82% - 47.07%). Fixed combinations of topical hypotensives had an upward trend since 2013 (range: 39.99% - 54.21%), becoming the most dispensed drugs in 2020 (48.99%). Preservative-free eye drops (lacking benzalkonium chloride, BAK) have displaced preservative containing topical treatments in all pharmacological groups. In 2013, BAK-preserved eye drops accounted for 91.1% of the total prescriptions, however in 2020 they only accounted for 34.2% of total prescriptions.
Conclusions:
The results of the present study highlight the current trend to avoid BAK-preserved eye drops for the treatment of glaucoma.
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