Investigation of medication adherence and reasons for poor adherence in patients on long-term glaucoma treatment regimes

Figures & data

Table 1 Participants’ reasons for not using eyedrops

Reason	Frequency of response, n (%)
Forget/bad memory	32 (25.0)
Change in routine	15 (11.7)
Traveling	7 (5.5)
Tiredness/late night	7 (5.5)
Ran out of drops	3 (2.3)
Lack of morning routine	2 (1.6)
Time of day – do not always use morning drops	2 (1.6)
Side effects: sore eyes	2 (1.6)

Table 2 Demographics compared with adherence rating with the MGL medication adherence questionnaire

Demographics		Low adherence (MGL=0-1)	Moderate adherence (MGL=2-3)	High adherence (MGL=4)	Chi-squared P-value
Sex	Male (n=61)	4.9% (n=3)	52.5% (n=32)	42.6% (n=26)	χ^2 (2,128)=0.1, p=0.951
		Female (n=67)	4.5% (n=3)	55.2% (n=37)	40.2% (n=27)
Age	≤60 years (n=18)	16.6% (n=3)	61% (n=11)	22.2% (n=4)	χ^2 (4,128)=10.62, p=0.031*
	61-70 years (n=38)	0% (n=0)	47.4% (n=18)	52.6 (n=20)
	>70 years (n=72)	4.2% (n=3)	55.6% (n=40)	40.3% (n=29)
Family history of glaucoma	Yes (n=91)	3.3% (n=3)	51.6% (n=47)	45.1% (n=41)	χ^2 (2,128)=2.61, p=0.271
	No (n=37)	8.1% (n=3)	59.5% (n=22)	32.4% (n=12)
Living status	Live alone (n=31)	0% (n=0)	45.1% (n=14)	54.8% (n=17)	χ^2 (2,128)=4.28, p=0.118
	Live with family (n=97)	5.2% (n=5)	56.7% (n=55)	37.1% (n=36)
Employment status	Working (n=24)	4.2% (n=1)	46.8% (n=11)	50% (n=12)	χ^2 (2,128)=0.90, p=0.637
	Not working (n=104)	4.8% (n=5)	55.8% (n=58)	39.4% (n=41)
Taking other chronic medication	Yes (n=112) No (n=16)	3.6% (n=4) 12.5% (n=2)	53.6% (n=60) 56.3% (n=9)	42.9% (n=48) 31.3% (n=5)	χ^2 (2,128)=2.86, p=0.240
Changes in medication	0 changes (n=55) 1 change (n=46) 2 changes (n=27)	3.6% (n=2) 6.5% (n=3) 3.7% (n=1)	54.5% (n=30) 50% (n=23) 59.2% (n=16)	41.8% (n=23) 43.5% (n=20) 37.0% (n=10)	χ^2 (2,128)=0.97 p=0.915

Note: *Represents statistically significant results.

Table 3 Reasons for changes in adherence behavior over the previous 6 months

Used medication “more” regularly in last 6 months	Used medication “less” regularly in last 6 months
Better at instillation of drops	Difficulties with drop insertion
More established routine	Worsening memory
More practice at putting in drops	Do not know what drops are supposed to do
Increased trust in medication	Not as worried about eyes as used to be
Better drops and an easier regime	More complacent
Disease worsening	Too many other worries lately
Better knowledge/understanding of disease – did not know what drops were for previously	Recent increase in medication – miss morning drop

Table 4 Knowledge of disease perception and adherence

Knowledge of glaucoma	MGL Adherence Score
	0-1 (low adherence) n (%)	2-3 (moderate adherence) n (%)	4 (high adherence) n (%)	Total n (%)
A lot	0 (0)	5 (3.9)	4 (3.1)	9 (7.0)
Fair amount	3 (2.3)	26 (20.3)	23 (18.0)	52 (40.6)
Very little	2 (1.6)	33 (25.8)	20 (15.6)	55 (43.0)
None	1 (0.78)	5 (3.9)	6 (4.7)	12 (9.4)
Total	6 (4.7)	69 (53.9)	53 (41.4)	128 (100)

Table 5 Participants’ perception of whether they were “happy” with their treatment

Happy with treatment	MGL Adherence score
	0-1 (low adherence) n (%)	2-3 (moderate adherence) n (%)	4 (high adherence) n (%)	Total n (%)
Yes	2 (1.6)	45 (35.2)	38 (29.7)	85 (66.4)
Mostly	4 (3.1)	19 (14.8)	15 (11.7)	38 (29.7)
No	0 (0)	5 (3.9)	0 (0)	5 (3.9)
Total	6 (4.7)	69 (53.9)	53 (41.4)	128 (100)

Table 6 Participants’ perception of whether their glaucoma medication regime was difficult to follow

Was the regime hard to follow?	MGL Adherence score
	0-1 (low adherence) n (%)	2-3 (moderate adherence) n (%)	4 (high adherence) n (%)	Total n (%)
Yes/sometimes	3 (2.3)	14 (10.9)	5 (3.9)	22 (17.2)
No	3 (2.3)	55 (43.0)	48 (37.5)	106 (82.8)
Total	6 (4.7)	69 (53.9)	53 (41.4)	128 (100)