Purpose: Patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) are required to take long-term treatments with topical medications to halt disease progression. This cross-sectional survey aimed to describe the level of acceptance of Brazilian patients toward the long-term treatment with eyedrops and to find possible correlates of high acceptance.
Methods: POAG patients were recruited from the Glaucoma Service-Santa Casa of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Clinical and demographic data were retrieved from participants' electronic records. All patients answered the ACCEPT© questionnaire. This is a generic patient-reported outcome questionnaire specifically developed to assess patients' acceptance of long-term medications and not adherence. Summed scores and those for each domain were calculated to range from 0 to 100 with a higher score indicating greater acceptance.
Results: The sample comprised 96 patients with POAG. The mean age was 63.2 ± 8.9 years; 48 were male and 48 female; 55 (57.3%) were white, 36 (37.5%) African-Brazilian, and 5 (5.2%) were of mixed color; most patients (97.9%) had less than high school degree and all had a family income <USD10,000. The mean summed ACCEPT score was 66.2 ± 5.0. Scores for specific domains were higher for your medication (82.5 ± 35.9), side effects of your medication (86.9 ± 37.4), and effectiveness of your medication (73.3 ± 8.3). There was no association between higher scores and any sociodemographic variables.
Conclusions: In this cohort of Brazilian patients with glaucoma, acceptance of treatment was high. Patients seems to have noticed more benefits than risks to the recommended treatment regimen.
Keywords: acceptance; convenience; glaucoma; risk/benefit assessment; tolerability.
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