A Drug Utilization Study of Anti-glaucoma Drugs in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Today, branded medications and polytherapy are frequently prescribed for glaucoma, even without giving the patient the proper instructions. Hence, the safety, effectiveness, cost, and patient compliance of glaucoma medication must be weighed, and the anti-glaucoma medicine usage must be studied. Analysis of glaucoma patients' prescription usage was the objective of this study.

Between January 2021 and February 2022, this prospective and observational study was carried out at Andhra Medical College in Vishakhapatnam. One hundred prescriptions of those with primary open-angle and angle closure glaucoma were assessed. Age and gender-based subgroup analyses were conducted. R software (version 4.2.1) (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) was leveraged for data analysis.

Out of 146 examined prescriptions, 100 (69%) were deemed suitable for analysis. Participants' mean age was 54.2 ± 10.8 years. Sixty-two were over 50 years old, and 36 were men. The mean intraocular pressure was 25.4 ± 1.7 mm of Hg. Per prescription, there were about 1.75 anti-glaucoma drugs. Fixed-dose combinations (FDC) were found in 43 prescriptions. Generic medications and patient instructions prevailed in most prescriptions (78%) and (84%). Timolol was used in each FDC with brimonidine, dorzolamide, or bimatoprost.

The most often prescribed anti-glaucoma drug, timolol, was also identified as an essential component of the FDC. Doctors must prescribe generic medications with detailed directions for the patients.