Adherence and challenges in administering eye medications among glaucoma patients in a Malaysian public tertiary care centre

摘要

Abstract Objectives To assess the adherence to and identify the challenges in administering eye medications among patients with glaucoma in Malaysia. Methods This was a 1‐year cross‐sectional study conducted at the Outpatient Pharmacy Department of the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, a public tertiary care centre. Patients with glaucoma, who self‐administered eye drops, were selected using the convenience sampling method and interviewed using the Brief Medication Questionnaire. The adherence of each patient was determined based on the total adherence score (0–1: good; 2–5 poor), while their responses to nine items describing the possible challenges in administering eye drops were dichotomized into ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Key findings One hundred patients with a mean age of 67.6?±?10.4?years were interviewed. The majority of them were Chinese (69%) and male (56%). Approximately half of them received two types of eye medications for glaucoma. The overall adherence rate was found to be 75%, and the median adherence score was 1.00 (interquartile ranges: 1.00). However, no significant associations were found between the patient adherence and their sociodemographic characteristics. The most frequently reported challenges included ‘eye drops falling on the cheeks’ (45%), ‘too many drops coming out of the eye drop bottles each time’ (42%) and ‘having difficulty in getting the eye medications refilled at the pharmacy on time’ (25%). It is also found that experiences with side effects of medications were inversely associated with adherence (odds ratio ( OR ): 0.12; 95% confidence interval ( CI ): 0.02–0.76; P ?=?0.024), while inconvenient administration times led to a higher risk of nonadherence ( OR : 14.17; 95% CI : 3.49–57.63; P ??0.001). Conclusions Nonadherence to eye medications was shown to be a major challenge in glaucoma treatment in Malaysia. Interventions to strengthen the patients’ commitment to the long‐term treatment, as well as their knowledge of the medications, are therefore warranted.