Long-term medical and surgical treatment patterns in Korean patients newly diagnosed with primary open-angle glaucoma: A 10-year retrospective cohort study

PURPOSE: To investigate the long-term medical and surgical treatment of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database in Korea, focusing on patients newly diagnosed with POAG in 2010. The study examined glaucoma eye drop prescriptions and the occurrence of glaucoma surgery over a 10-year period, from 2010 to 2020. The main outcome measures included changes in glaucoma eye drop prescriptions and the cumulative incidence of glaucoma surgery following the initial diagnosis of POAG. RESULTS: A total of 1,599 patients with POAG were enrolled. Prostaglandin analogue eye drops monotherapy was the most frequently prescribed glaucoma eye drop prescriptions in the first year (39.9%). The average number of prescribed glaucoma eye drops per patient was 1.19 in the first year and significantly increased to 1.40 by the tenth year. Similarly, the average number of prescribed ingredients per patient increased from 1.54 to 1.99 over the same period. The cumulative incidence of glaucoma surgery over 10 years was 3.1% (2.9% in males and 3.4% in females). CONCLUSIONS: This study quantitatively confirmed an increase in glaucoma medication use in patients newly diagnosed with POAG over a 10-year treatment period. Additionally, it reveals the incidence of glaucoma surgery based on sex and age. These findings provide valuable evidence for consulting patients with glaucoma.