Nation-Wide Analysis of Glaucoma Medication Prescription in Fiscal Year of 2019 in Japan

Abstract

To report the updated prescription trend of antiglaucoma medications, the dose-based prescription of a glaucoma medication in Japan in the fiscal year 2019 was aggregated by using the National Database of Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups of Japan (NDB) Open data. Of the 100 most frequently prescribed topical medications for outpatients from out-hospital pharmacies, 32 glaucoma medications were identified. This year, 150.8 million ml of glaucoma medications prescribed accounted for 12.3% of the total prescription dose (1.3 billion ml). The dose was the largest with prostaglandin FP2α agonist (PGF2α), followed by the fixed-dose combination (FDC) of β-blocker and carbonic anhydrase inhibitor (β + CAI) and α2-agonist. Prescription doses peaked at 75–79 years old for all medication classes, except for prostaglandin EP2 agonist of that peaked 10 years younger age class than other medications. The prescription dose was larger in women (55.3%) than men (44.7%), single medication formulation (71.2%) than FDC (28.8%), and brand-name (85.2%) than generic (14.8%). By multivariate analysis, prescription doses were affected by roles of the sex (p = 0.0066) and brand-name or generic (p = 0.032), but not by single medication formulation or FDC (p = 0.67); age was the most remarkable parameter for the difference in prescription dose (p < 0.0001). Dose-based anti-glaucoma medication prescription was analyzed using the government-provided most recent database on a national scale. The results provide the up-to-date real-world glaucoma medication prescriptions where the country has the highest aging rate in the world.

Xalatan in the Treatment of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma. Review

“…По-прежнему, несмотря на появление на рынке других аналогичных препаратов и дженериков, латанопрост остается наиболее часто назначаемым антиглаукомным препаратом не только в России, но и в странах Европы, США, Японии, Китае и Австралии [20][21][22][23][24]. Из всех гипотензивных препаратов латанопрост является единственным аналогом простагландина, включенным в регулярно пересматривающийся «Список важнейших лекарственных средств ВОЗ».…”

Survey of community and hospital pharmacist involvement in outpatient chemotherapy using Japanese health information data

“…The NODJ includes basic summary tables created from medical inpatient claims, medical outpatient claims, diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) claims, dispensing claims, dental inpatient claims, dental outpatient claims, and specific health checkups (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2022b ). The NODJ has been used in several studies to identify trends in drugs prescribed by the Japanese insurance system (Mukai et al, 2020 ; Suzuki et al, 2023 ; Tanaka et al, 2022 ; Tanito, 2022 ). Furthermore, Japan enacted the Cancer Registration Promotion Act in 2013, where the registration of diagnosed cancer cases was started in 2016 under the new National Cancer Registry (NCR) system (Ministry of Health.…”

Estimation of Topical Glaucoma Medication Over-Prescription and Its Associated Factors

“…Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is a major risk factor for glaucoma. The only evidence-proven treatment for glaucoma is to lower IOP through medication, laser, or incisional surgery [ 3 , 4 ], although the medication applied topically is the mainstay of the treatment option in the majority of glaucoma patients [ 5 ]. Oral medications are frequently used in fields other than ophthalmology.…”

“…In a retrospective, longitudinal cohort study conducted from 2015 through 2016 in the USA, glaucoma medications comprised 42.7% of all ophthalmic medication expenditures, followed by dry eye medications at 29.5% [ 10 ]. In Japan, among the 100 most frequently prescribed ophthalmology medications in 2019, 32 were glaucoma medications [ 3 ]. In England, by analyzing prescribing cost data held by the NHS Business Authority from 2000 to 2012, the number of glaucoma medication prescriptions dispensed increased by 67% in 2012 compared to 2000, with medication costs increasing by 88% over the same period [ 11 ].…”