A new study, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, indicates that the number of patients receiving medications for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension in Scotland is growing.
Using the data obtained from Prescribing Information System of the NHS Information and Statistics Division for Scotland, researchers determined the prevalence of patients receiving intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering medication from community pharmacies. The expected rise in prescribing prevalence was modelled using the National census data.
A total of 61,249 patients in Scotland received IOP-reducing medications in 2017, which translates to 1.13 per cent of the total population and 2.16 per cent of the population aged >40 years. This figure indicates a 27.13 per cent rise since 2010 when a total of 48,178 patients received IOP-reducing medications. The prevalence of prescribing increased substantially with age, reaching 10.67 per cent in individuals aged >90 years. Men were more likely to be prescribed IOP-reducing medications than women, at any given age. During 2010-2017, the observed rate of growth in prescribing was 2.22-fold greater than the expected rate calculated after taking into account population expansion and ageing.
The authors warn that the study findings should only be considered as a surrogate measure of the actual prevalence of glaucoma, as the study excludes patients with glaucoma not treated using medications and includes patients with ocular hypertension receiving medications.
