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| |  Dosing Aid Provides Accurate Snapshot of Travoprost Compliance in Patients With Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma: Presented at COS By Louise Gagnon TORONTO -- June 30, 2009 -- The use of a dosing aid provides clinicians with an accurate snapshot of the level of drug-therapy compliance in their patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, according to a study presented here at the 72nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS) on June 22 “This is an older population on multiple medications,” explained Doug Hubatsch, Alcon Canada Inc., Mississauga, Ontario. “If patients are taking more medications, the usual result is that there is less compliance. They start missing doses here and there. The aid helps keep track of the dosing.” A total of 743 patients completed an open-label, multicentre, single-arm treatment study using the travoprost dosing aid (TRAVALERT) -- a device that records the administration of doses of travoprost. The dosing aid is able to record when the medication has been administered, and the treating physician can download that information from the dosing aid to assess compliance, explained Hubatsch. Patients completed a survey about their perceived compliance at baseline and 1 month after having access to the dosing aid. Most patients (53.2%) were women, and most were aged >65 years. Nearly half (48%) were on more than 2 medications, and 69% always administered their antiglaucoma medications on their own. The dosing aid found that the mean frequency of missed doses measured with the dosing aid was 35%. Specifically, 36% of patients missed 0% to 20% of their doses, 29% missed 20% to 40% of their doses, 17% missed 40% to 60% of their doses, 7% missed 60% to 80% of their doses, and 11% missed 80% to 100% of their doses. Patients used a linear scale of 1 through 5, with 1 denoting never and 5 denoting always, to report their compliance. Investigators found a gap between patients’ recording of their compliance: most patients (70%) indicated that they never missed a dose, but the frequency of missed doses was 34% among those patients, according to the dosing aid. The use of the dosing aid decreased the reported number of days with a missed dose by reduced 22.2% (P < .05) and the number of skipped doses by 12.5% (P < .05). “Patient compliance that was reported was not consistent with what it actually was,” said Hubatsch, noting that the aid contains features such as a dosing lever to help patients take drops and a visible alarm and an audible alarm to serve as reminders to take drops. “Patients may have trouble getting the drops in their eyes or may forget to take their drops,” he said. More than half (58%) of respondents said they were relieved or very relieved that their caregiver could keep track of the dosing of their medication with the dosing aid. In addition, 86% of patients indicated a preference to continue using the dosing aid. Funding for this study was provided by Alcon Canada Inc. [Presentation title: In-Office Assessment of Compliance in Canadian Glaucoma Practices Using the TRAVALERT Dosing Aid. Abstract P6]
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