Glaucoma drug compliance linked to age

Article

Glaucoma medication compliance and effectiveness of drug administration correlates with age and severity of disease.

Glaucoma medication compliance and effectiveness of drug administration correlates with age and severity of disease, according to a report presented at the annual meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology.

Florent Aptel, MD and colleagues asked patients to complete a questionnaire concerning non-observance of treatment schedules. In addition, visual field examinations were performed and patients were asked to apply eye drops in the same way as they would at home.

Twenty-four percent of patients admitted non-compliance and approximately 20% instilled their drops outside of the eye. The non-compliant patients were mainly younger or those with earlier stages of the disease. Those who had difficulty in applying the drops tended to be older, with poorer visual acuity and larger visual field defects.

Based on this data the researchers identified two typical patient groups. The first are the relatively young patients with early stage glaucoma, which does not have a significant impact on their life. These subjects are able to carry out the instillation properly but are likely to be less compliant. The second group comprises of the older patients who have more advanced glaucoma, which does have a significant impact on their day-to-day life. These are more compliant but have difficulties performing the instillation correctly, often allowing all or part of the medication to drop outside of the eye.

This study suggests that compliance and drug administration in glaucoma patients can be directly correlated to age and disease severity.

Newsletter

Join ophthalmologists across Europe—sign up for exclusive updates and innovations in surgical techniques and clinical care.

Recent Videos
At the Retina World Congress, Siegfried Priglinger, MD, speaks about ensuring the best outcomes for preschool-aged patients
At the 2025 ASCRS meeting, Robert Ang, MD said small aperture IOLs can benefit all patients, especially those with complex corneas or who have undergone previous corneal refractive surgery
Viha Vig, MBChB graduate student at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, discusses her poster presentation on the relationship between mitochondiral disease, Alzheimer disease, and other types of dementia.
Alfredo Sadun, MD, PhD, chief of Ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute, University of California Los Angeles, shared exciting new research with the Eye Care Network during the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting on the subject of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON).
At this year's Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nitish Mehta, MD, shared highlights from his research documenting real-world results of aflibercept 8 mg for patients with diabetic macular oedema.
ARVO 2025: Anat Loewenstein, MD, shares data from herself and her colleagues on meeting needs of patients with diabetic retinopathy
At the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons annual meeting, Sheng Lim, MD, FRCOphth discusses the benefit of endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation for patients with primary open angle glaucoma and cataracts in the CONCEPT study
A photo of Seville, Spain, with the Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology logo superimposed on it. Image credit: ©francovolpato – stock.adobe.com; logo courtesy COPHy
Anat Loewenstein, MD, Professor and Director, Department of Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv Medical Center, discusses the Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology (COPHy)
Related Content
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.