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.