Alex Young , 2025-05-06 19:30:00
Key takeaways:
- Concerns about glaucoma had a negative impact on medication adherence.
- Illness perception also had an impact on glaucoma-related quality of life.
SALT LAKE CITY — Patients who had a worse perception of their glaucoma had worse medication adherence and quality of life, according to a poster presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.
Lyne Racette, PhD, said the goal of the study was to examine how patients perceive their disease and how well they were able to take their medication.
“In glaucoma, they have to put in eye drops every day for the rest of their lives,” she told Healio. “Sometimes one, sometimes two, sometimes more. Sometimes they get surgery, but the first line of treatment is eye drops.”
Racette and colleagues selected patients with primary open-angle glaucoma from an NIH-funded longitudinal study and measured illness perception using a nine-item questionnaire. They also measured medication adherence using medication adherence software as well as quality of life using the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 questionnaire.
Patients reported having low confidence in treatment, a limited understanding of their disease and high concerns about their disease. In addition, patients’ concern about their glaucoma, how it affected them emotionally and their total illness perception were significantly associated with medication adherence, with ties found between several illness perceptions and glaucoma-related quality of life.
“How patients perceive their illness affects how well they feel, their quality of life and also how they adhere to their treatment,” Racette said. “Maybe in clinics down the road, if you wanted to double up interventions or help patients adhere better, it would be good to spend a little bit more time explaining to patients what their disease is.”
Sources/Disclosures
Collapse
Racette L, et al. Relationship between illness perceptions and medication adherence in primary open-angle glaucoma. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting; May 4-8, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah.
Disclosures:
Racette reports being a scientific advisor for Olleyes.
