Improving Medication Adherence to Reduce Vision Loss in Patients with Glaucoma: Low Hanging Fruit?

Nonadherence with glaucoma medications is ubiquitous and well known. Failure to take medications as prescribed can result in decreased treatment effectiveness and outcomes, increased complications, worsened health status, and higher overall healthcare costs. While the number is unknown, each year many individuals with glaucomaddiagnosed and undiagnoseddwill lose vision. Although approximately half of all patients with glaucoma do not follow their medication regimens or discontinue medication use within 6 months, 9% of all prescriptions are never even filled. Even when medications are provided at no cost and patients are aware that they are being monitored, adherence rates are only approximately 70%. Patients fail to adhere to recommended medication regimens for many reasons, including the absence of disease symptoms, low levels of health literacy, not understanding the importance of treatment, difficulty in administration, mental health status, or forgetfulness, among others. Patients with lower