Patients’ beliefs play key role in nonadherence to glaucoma medication

These findings came from a cross-sectional study designed to determine the rate of intentional and unintentional nonadherence in glaucoma patients, and identify associations between adherence and patients' beliefs.

They conducted an interviewer-administered survey of 131 consecutive glaucoma patients from various glaucoma clinics. Self-reported adherence and beliefs about glaucoma and its treatment were assessed using the Reported Adherence to Medication scale, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, and the Beliefs about Medicines-Specific Questionnaire.

Of the 59 patients surveyed, 45 percent reported some degree of nonadherence to glaucoma medication. Of these individuals, 39 (66.1 percent) reported unintentional nonadherence such as forgetting, 10 (16.9 percent) reported deliberate nonadherence, and 10 (16.9 percent) said they both deliberately and non-deliberately did not use the eye drops.

Nonadherers tend to be significantly younger, less likely to have other non-ocular health conditions or to use medicines other than their eye drops, and tend to have a lower belief in the necessity of eye drops for glaucoma.

The authors concluded that strategies aimed at improving adherence need to address both intentional and unintentional dimensions.