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Abstract
Background
Patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension may have inadequately controlled intraocular
pressure (IOP) or experience adverse effects with their current medication regimens.
Objective
This post hoc reanalysis determined the effectiveness and tolerability of brimonidine
used as replacement therapy in a real-life clinical practice setting.
Methods
In this multicenter, open-label, observational, 2-month study, 460 patients received
brimonidine 0.2% as a 1:1 replacement for another antiglaucoma medication in their
current regimen. Effectiveness was assessed by calculating the mean additional reduction
in IOP from the treated baseline measurement (before the switch to brimonidine) to
2 months postbaseline, and by determining physicians' opinions of treatment effectiveness.
Tolerability was determined based on quality-of-life assessments and recorded adverse
events.
Results
Overall, brimonidine replacement significantly reduced mean (± SEM) IOP by an additional
2.33 ± 0.17 mm Hg (9.8% ± 0.9%; P < 0.001). Significant additional reductions in IOP were seen when brimonidine replaced
an agent used either as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy, regardless of the drug
class of the agent replaced. However, particularly good hypotensive effectiveness
and additional lowering of IOP were observed when brimonidine replaced certain medications,
including latanoprost (12.44%; P < 0.003) and betaxolol (13.56%; P < 0.001) monotherapy, and latanoprost (16.08%; P < 0.010) adjunctive therapy. The effectiveness of brimonidine was rated as good or
excellent by 92.4% of physicians. All quality-of-life variables remained favorable
or improved throughout the study, and brimonidine treatment was well tolerated.
Conclusions
Brimonidine 0.2% used as a 1:1 replacement for monotherapy or adjunctive therapy with
other antiglaucoma drugs significantly lowered IOP from that produced by previous
therapy and was well tolerated. Brimonidine offers a useful treatment option in patients
who require replacement therapy.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
November 17,
1999
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 Published by Elsevier Inc.
