A persistency and economic analysis of latanoprost, bimatoprost, or beta-blockers in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in the persistency and treatment costs for latanoprost, bimatoprost, or beta-blockers in open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertensive patients. METHODS: This study was a retrospective, multicenter, parallel, active-controlled comparison of patients who were prescribed with ocular hypotensive monotherapy between September 1996 and August 2002. RESULTS: 1,182 patients were included. The Kaplan Meier life table analysis showed that latanoprost was continued longest among the groups for the first year of therapy (p=0.02). A significant difference existed between groups in the final intraocular pressure for latanoprost (17.3+/-3.9, N=357), for bimatoprost (18.0+/-3.6, N=146), and for the beta-blockers (17.9+/-3.7, N=335) (p=<0.0001). The average number of visits was statistically higher for beta-blockers (3.3), compared to latanoprost (2.9) and bimatoprost (3.1) (p=0.01). Further, the mean number of medicine changes was greater for bimatoprost (0.45) and beta-blockers (0.47) than for latanoprost (0.27) (p=0.0008). The cost of visits and medications was lowest for beta-blockers ($119.3+/-$78.9) and highest for bimatoprost ($163.8+/-$51.2) (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients were more persistent with latanoprost and demonstrated lower intraocular pressure, fewer visits, and fewer medicine changes when compared to bimatoprost or beta-blocker therapy. In contrast, the beta-blocker group provided lower overall cost.