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 bimatopros...