Comparison of adherence between fixed and unfixed topical combination glaucoma therapies using Japanese healthcare/pharmacy claims database: a retrospective non-interventional cohort study.
BMC Ophthalmol
; 21(1): 52, 2021 Jan 21.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33478408
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Adherence to chronic therapies is crucial to prevent the progression of disease, such as glaucoma. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated them using real-world data in Japan. This study aimed to evaluate Japanese patients' adherence to fixed- and unfixed-combination eye drops as a second-line therapy for glaucoma in real-world practice.METHODS:
This retrospective, non-interventional cohort study utilized a commercially available Japanese healthcare database (MinaCare database). Medical/pharmacy claims data were collected from 2011 to 2016. The primary endpoint was adherence to medications, assessed by proportion of days covered (PDC) with medication during a 12-month post-index period. Meanwhile, the secondary endpoints included the persistence rate.RESULTS:
A total of 738 patients were included in this study 309 and 329 in the fixed- and unfixed-combination cohorts, respectively. Prostaglandin analog (PG)/ß-blocker (BB) was most commonly claimed in 241/309 (78.0%) patients in the fixed-combination cohort. In the unfixed-combination cohort, PG and BB were claimed in 130/329 (39.5%) patients, whereas PG and α2-agonist were claimed in 87/329 (26.4%) patients. Patients were more adherent to the fixed-combination than the unfixed-combinations (mean PDCs [SD], 79.1% [32.1] vs. 62.2% [38.0]; P < 0.0001). The proportion of patients with good adherence (PDC ≥ 80%) was also higher in the fixed-combination cohort (69.6%) than in the unfixed-combination cohort (48.6%) (P < 0.0001). During the 12-month post-index period, the persistence rate was higher in the fixed-combination cohort than in the unfixed-combination cohort (47.6% [95% confidence intervals (CI) 41.9-53.0] vs. 24.9% [95% CI 20.4-29.7], P < 0.0001).CONCLUSIONS:
Japanese patients with glaucoma preferred the fixed-combination therapies over the unfixed-combination therapies. Hence, fixed-combination therapies would contribute to the improvement of adherence.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pharmacy
/
Glaucoma
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Ophthalmol
Journal subject:
OFTALMOLOGIA
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japan