A Randomised Open Label Comparative Clinical Trial on the Efficacy of Latanoprost and Timolol in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma

INTRODUCTION: Timolol, a beta blocker, is the most commonly prescribed first line therapy in the treatment of primary open angle glaucoma. Latanoprost, a prostaglandin analogue, is a novel drug in glaucoma therapy. Its efficacy has to be proved for it to be included under the first line therapy in the treatment of primary open angle glaucoma. AIM: To compare the efficacy of Latanoprost with that of Timolol in the treatment of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study the enrolled patients were randomly divided into two groups by block randomization. The sample size was determined to be 60 in each group. One group received 0.005% of Latanoprost once daily in the evening and the other group 0.5% of Timolol twice daily. The efficacy was measured in terms of intraocular pressure at scheduled follow up visits. RESULTS: At the start of the study, intraocular pressures of both groups were comparable. At the end point, reduction of intraocular pressure among Latanoprost group was significantly greater than that of Timolol group (9.72 vs 7.27, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Latanoprost was found to be superior to Timolol in reducing the intraocular pressure in treatment of patients with primary open angle glaucoma.