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Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Drug prescribing in the management of glaucoma at the ophthalmology clinic in a tertiary health facility in South-South Nigeria

Kehinde A Ganiyu1 , Temitope A Ojo2, Goodluck AR Berikebuna1

1Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Federal Medical Center, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

For correspondence:-  Kehinde Ganiyu   Email:  pharmkenny@gmail.com   Tel:  +2347031380705

Received: 11 August 2020        Accepted: 13 August 2020        Published: 23 September 2020

Citation: Ganiyu KA, Ojo TA, Berikebuna GA. Drug prescribing in the management of glaucoma at the ophthalmology clinic in a tertiary health facility in South-South Nigeria. Trop J Med Dent Pract 2020; 1(1):1-5 doi: https://doi.org/10.47227/tjmdp/v1i1.1

© 2020 The author(s).
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Background: Glaucoma is among the leading causes of blindness in Nigeria and the world over. Hence, there is a need to study outcomes of its medication management, locally. The purpose of this study was to evaluate drug prescribing in the management of glaucoma at the eye clinic in Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Methods: Case notes of 102 patients who presented at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa for glaucoma management from January to December 2018 were purposively selected. They were assessed for drug prescribing, and change in intraocular pressure (IOP) and cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) at fourth-month from baseline of therapy.
Results: Each of the patients was placed on average of 2.64±0.96 anti-glaucoma drugs as at fourth-month of therapy. Timolol (35.6%), latanoprost (25.9%) and dorzolamide (13.7%) were the most prescribed. Latanoprost/timolol and dorzolamide/timolol, each prescribed for 29 (50.0%) of the patients, were the main anti-glaucoma drugs prescribed as fixed-dose combinations. On the average, IOPs (mmHg) reduced by 2.46 (p<0.05) and by 2.37 (p<0.05) in the left and right eyes, respectively at fourth-month from the baseline of therapy. Meanwhile, there was no significant increase (p>0.05) in the CDRs for either the left or the right eyes.
Conclusion: Rational prescribing was observed in the study, with each of the patients receiving an average of 2.64±0.96 anti-glaucoma drugs per encounter, notably timolol and latanoprost. IOP control was optimal while the average change in CDRs was negligible for both eyes at the fourth-month of therapy.

Keywords: Chronic open-angle glaucoma; Cup-to-disc ratio (CDR); Drug prescribing, Intraocular pressure (IOP); Niger Delta Area

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