Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Medical Treatment: Adherence and Persistence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Pearls of Glaucoma Management

  • 1299 Accesses

Abstract

Glaucoma is recognized as a significant cause of blindness worldwide. It is a disease that affects over 2 million people in the United States today, a number that is projected to increase to more than 3 million by the year 2020. The mainstay of therapy for open-angle glaucoma is maintaining low intraocular pressure to prevent or retard progression of the disease. However, despite the possibility of devastating vision loss, low adherence to and persistence on medical treatment remains surprisingly poor. Unfortunately, glaucoma is one of the many chronic diseases in which poor adherence leads to disease progression, which in turn leads to increased health costs. In fact, hospital admission data in the United States show that 33–69% of all admissions are the result of noncompliance with medications, costing the system approximately $100 billion a year [1, 9, 10, 16]. Understanding the motivating or demotivating factors behind these behaviors is essential to provide quality care to our patients. The two key concepts involved are those of adherenceand persistence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Berg JS, Dischler J, Wagner DJ, Raja JJ, Palmer-Shevlin N. Medication compliance: a healthcare problem. Ann Pharma­cother. 1993;27(Suppl 9):S1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Dawn AG, Santiago-Turla C, Lee PP. Patient expectations regarding eye care focus group results. Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121:762–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Friedman DS, Quigley HA, Gelb L, et al. Using pharmacy claims data to study adherence to glaucoma medications: methodology of the glaucoma adherence and persistence study (GAPS). Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2007;48:5052–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Herndon LW, Brunner TM, Rollins JN. The glaucoma research foundation pa tient survey: patient understanding of glaucoma and its treatment. Am J Ophthalmol. 2006;141: S22–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Jackevicius CA, Mamdani M, Tu JV. Adherence in statin therapy in elderly patients with and without acute coronary syndrome. JAMA. 2002;288:462–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Kass MA, Heuer DK, Higginbotham EJ, et al; For Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study Group. The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study: a randomized trial determines that topical ocular hypotensive medication delays or prevents the onset of primary open-angle glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol. 2002;120(6):701–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Kass MA, Meltzer DW, Gordon M, et al. Compliance with topical pilocarpine treatment. Am J Ophthalmol. 1986;101: 515–23.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kosoko O, Quigley HA, Vitale S, et al. Risk factors for non-compliance with glaucoma follow-up visits. Ophthalmology. 1998;105:2105–11.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Levy G, Zamacona MK, Jusko WJ. Developing compliance instructions for drug labeling. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2000; 68:586–91.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. McDonnell PJ, Jacobs MR. Hospital admissions resulting from preventable adverse drug reactions. Ann Pharmacother. 2002;36:1331–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Nordstrom B, Friedman D, Mozaffari E, Quigley H, Walker A. Persistence and adherence with topical glaucoma therapy. Am J Ophthalmol. 2005;140:598–606.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Osterberg L, Blaschke T. Adherence to medication. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:487–95.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Owsley C, McGwin G, Scilley K, et al. Perceived barriers to care and attitudes about vision and eye care: focus groups with older African Americans and eye care providers. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006;47:2797–802.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Patel SC, Spaeth GL. Compliance in patients prescribed eyedrops for glaucoma. Ophthal Surg. 1995;26:233–6.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Reardon G, Schwartz GF, Mozaffari E. Patient persistency with topical ocular hypotensive therapy in a managed care population. Am J Ophthalmol. 2004;137(Suppl 1):S3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Senst BL, Achusim LE, Genest RP, et al. Practical approach to determining costs and frequency of adverse drug events in a health care network. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2001;58: 1126–32.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Sloan FA, Brown DS, Carlisle ES, et al. Monitoring visual status: why patients do or do not comply with practice guidelines. Health Serv Res. 2004;39:1429–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Stewart WC, Konstas AG, Pfeiffer N. Patient and ophthalmologist attitudes concerning compliance and dosing in glaucoma treatment. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 2004;20: 461–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Tsai JC, McClure CA, Ramos SE, Schlundt DG, Pichert JW. Compliance barriers in glaucoma: a systematic classification. J Glaucoma. 2003;12:393–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Glaucoma Consultants Northwest, Arnold Medical Pavilion, 1221 Madison Street, Suite 1124, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Annisa L. Jamil

Authors
  1. Annisa L. Jamil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard P. Mills
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annisa L. Jamil .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jules Stein Eye Institute, Stein Plaza 100, Los Angeles, 90095, U.S.A.

    JoAnn A. Giaconi

  2. Jules Stein Eye Institute, Stein Plaza 100, Los Angeles, 90095, U.S.A.

    Simon K. Law

  3. Jules Stein Eye Institute, Stein Plaza 100, Los Angeles, 90095, U.S.A.

    Anne L. Coleman

  4. Jules Stein Eye Institute, Stein Plaza 100, Los Angeles, 90095, U.S.A.

    Joseph Caprioli

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jamil, A.L., Mills, R.P. (2010). Medical Treatment: Adherence and Persistence. In: Giaconi, J., Law, S., Coleman, A., Caprioli, J. (eds) Pearls of Glaucoma Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68240-0_30

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68240-0_30

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-68238-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68240-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation