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Evidence summaries

Latanoprost and Brimonidine on Intraocular Pressure in the Treatment of Glaucoma

Latanoprost appears to be superior to brimonidine in reducing intraocular pressure in adults with primary open-angle glaucoma. Level of evidence: "B"

A systematic review 1 including 8 studies with a total of 2 152 subjects was abstracted in DARE.

At 3 months, latanoprost and brimonidine reduced IOP by 8.4 and 6.5 mm Hg, respectively. At 6 months, latanoprost and brimonidine reduced IOP by 8.0 and 6.2 mm Hg, respectively. At 3 months, 83% of patients who received latanoprost were successfully treated compared to 68% of patients who received brimonidine At 6 months, the number of successfully treated patients were 82% for latanoprost and 72% for brimonidine.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by indirectness (no direct comparisons). The authors state that this indirect comparison of data from the available randomised clinical trials showed latanoprost to be statistically significantly superior to brimonidine in reducing intraocular pressure in adults with primary open-angle glaucoma.

References

  • Einarson TR, Kulin NA, Tingey D, Iskedjian M. Meta-analysis of the effect of latanoprost and brimonidine on intraocular pressure in the treatment of glaucoma. Clin Ther 2000 Dec;22(12):1502-15. [PubMed] [DARE]

Primary/Secondary Keywords