Prevalence of glaucoma & its drug utilization pattern in eye care hospitals, palakkad- a prospective study

Aim: The study is to find the prevalence of glaucoma & the drug utilization pattern of glaucoma medications in eye care hospitals at Palakkad.
Methodology: A prospective study was conducted at two eye care centers Palakkad, for a period of 6 months duration (November 2016- April 2017). Glaucoma patients with age > 40 were selected. Questionnaire survey & data entry form were used to assess the disease, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment plan.
Result: Out of 222 glaucoma patients, 80% (n=178) were male & 20% (n=44) were female. From the study, it was evident that the male populations were more prone to glaucoma as compared to female. Open angle glaucoma was prevalent in 91% (n=202) patients than Angle closure glaucoma 7 % (n=16) &Normal tension glaucoma (n= 4) 2% respectively.
Conclusion: The prescription analysis of glaucoma patients concluded that monotherapy with travoprost was the first line choice for glaucoma therapy and timolol was found to be the second line choice. Timolol+ brimonidine was the mostly prescribed fixed drug combination. It also showed that all drugs were prescribed in their brand name instead of generic name.