Prescribing trends of glaucoma medication in Korea from 2007 to 2020: A nationwide population-based study

• Published in: PloS one 2024-07, Vol.19 (7), p.e0305619
• Main Authors: Na, Kyeong Ik, Lee, Won June, Choi, Youn Joo, Park, Sung Pyo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adrenergic beta-Antagonists - therapeutic use; Adult; Age groups; Aged; Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use; Beta blockers; Biology and Life Sciences; Carbonic anhydrase; Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Databases, Factual; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Drug therapy; Eye; Female; Glaucoma; Glaucoma - drug therapy; Health insurance; Humans; Ingredients; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Ophthalmic drugs; Ophthalmic Solutions - therapeutic use; Patient compliance; Patients; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Population studies; Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data; Practice Patterns, Physicians' - trends; Prescription writing; Prescriptions; Prostaglandins; Regression analysis; Republic of Korea; Research and Analysis Methods; Sexes; Trends
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305619

Investigating long-term trends in glaucoma medication. All patients diagnosed with glaucoma and prescribed glaucoma eye drops between 2007 and 2020 in Korea's Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database participated in this study. A weight was assigned to each prescription using the reciprocal of the total number of prescriptions received by the individual in that year. The number of patients who received each type of glaucoma eye drop prescription was calculated by summing the weights for each year. During the study period, prostaglandin analog eye drop monotherapy was the most frequently given type of glaucoma eye drop prescription. Until 2008, the second most frequently given type of glaucoma eye drop prescription was beta blocker eye drop monotherapy; thereafter, it changed to carbonic anhydrase inhibitor/beta blocker fixed-combination eye drop monotherapy. The prescription proportion of single-ingredient glaucoma eye drops decreased (-1.290%/year, P < 0.001), whereas that of fixed-combination glaucoma eye drops increased (1.291%/year, P < 0.001). The number of glaucoma eye drops prescribed per patient remained constant (-0.00030/year, P = 0.167) with an average of 1.302, while the number of active ingredients prescribed per patient increased (0.01737/year, P < 0.001) from 1.659 in 2007 to 1.896 in 2020. Over 14 years, there was no change in the number of glaucoma eye drops prescribed to individual patients in Korea. However, the number of active ingredients prescribed increased owing to the increased prescription of fixed-combination eye drops. The current trends in glaucoma medication are expected to help establish future treatment strategies.