Consumption of glaucoma medication

Abstract

During recent decades consumption of antiglaucoma drugs has shown a steady increase in the Nordic countries. The cost increase can partly be explained by the use of newer, more expensive drugs. The increase in daily doses, however, is relatively much larger than the corresponding ageing of the population. There are large national and regional differences. Measured in daily defined doses (DDD) the consumption of glaucoma medication is almost three times as high in Sweden as in Denmark. Within all the Nordic countries there exists up to more than two‐fold regional differences between high‐ and low‐consuming counties. The new classes of IOP‐lowering drugs have been very quickly adopted. Statistical data indicate that adding new drugs is more common than switching to a new therapy.