Adherence to glaucoma medication higher in the mornings

Patient adherence to glaucoma medication could increase with morning application of glaucoma medication, reveals a paper in the Journal of Glaucoma.

The prospective, randomized crossover treatment trial, conducted by Dr Bryce A. Ford et al., Department of Surgery, Division of Ophthalmology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, involved 30 patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

All patients initially received travoprost eye drops and were randomized to either morning or evening administration for one month. They were then crossed over to the opposite dosing schedule for the second month.

The main outcome measures were adherence between morning versus evening dosing and between first and second month dosing. Patients completed a post-study questionnaire on the convenience of the two dosing schedules.

Patient adherence overall was 89.3% and there was no significant difference between adherence for morning and evening dosing. However, patients claimed to prefer morning administration to evening administration and males were more likely to demonstrate a greater adherence for morning administration.

Adherence decreased from the first month to the second month and IOP response was not significantly affected by morning or evening administration.

The abstract can be read here.