OBJECTIVES: While the prevalence of glaucoma has increased in recent years in Korea, evaluations in management patterns for glaucoma are lacking. We investigated prostaglandin prescription patterns in order to assess the quality of care for glaucoma patients.

METHODS: Glaucoma patients were identified using the health claims data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service from 2002 to 2013. Using the Tenth Revision of International Classification of Diseases, glaucoma patients were divided into primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). Outpatient and hospitalization prescription records were used to identify and categorize prostaglandin drugs into latanprost, travoprost, bimatoprost, and tafloprost. The proportions of each subtype of prostaglandin drug prescribed for each year and according to glaucoma subtypes were assessed.

RESULTS: When all four types of prostaglandin drugs were first available in 2010, the proportions of prostaglandin drugs among POAG patients were 80.0% for latanprost, 13.5% for travoprost, 3.0% for bimatoprost, and 3.5% for tafloprost. The proportions for PACG patients were 92.4%, 17.9%, 2.7%, and 6.0% for latanprost, traoprost, bimatoprost, and tafloprost, respectively. In 2013, the proportion of latanprost decreased to 63.4% while the proportion of tafloprost increased to 18.6% for POAG patients. Among PACG patients, the proportion of latanprost decreased to 57.6% and the proportion of tafloprost increased to 14.4%.

CONCLUSIONS: While the primary prostaglandin drug for both POAG and PACG remained unchanged in latanprost from 2010 to 2013, the proportion of latanprost decreased steadily during the 4-year period. On the other hand, the proportion of tafloprost increased rapidly for both POAG and PACG patients from 2010 to 2013.