Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of 0.2% olopatadine, 1.5% bepotastine and 0.25% alcaftadine in treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.

Design: This was a prospective study conducted on 90 consecutive patients who presented to out-patient department with signs and symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis from December 2018 to July 2020 i.e. 20 months. Randomization was done by envelope method in which randomly generated treatment regimens were sealed within opaque envelopes and allocated to the patients after obtaining their informed consent.

Results: Out of 90 patients, 55 (61.11%) patients were males. Overall mean age was 16.67 ± 10.59 years. 74.44% patients resided in rural areas. 38(42.22%) patients had symptoms of allergic rhinitis such as running nose and sneezing. The mean time for beginning of itch relief after instilling eye drops at first visit was 6.35 ± 1.99 minutes with no significant difference between Group A, B and C (p = 0.58). Paired analysis of median itch scores showed significant improvement in median itch score (p< 0.05) at each follow-up visit when compared to the previous visit in all groups. On comparing the median symptom scores and sign scores, there was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) between the scores of group A, B and C at the time of presentation as well as at follow-up visit on day 1, day 3, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months. All the symptoms were completely resolved in group A, B and C by the end of 1 month. Papillary reaction persisted in 35(38.89%) of patients at the end of 3 months. The average cost of treatment for 1 month was 280.00 INR, 495.00 INR and 450 INR in Group A, Group B and Group C respectively which shows that olopatadine 0.2% was most cost-effective.

Conclusion: Olopatadine 0.2%, bepotastine 1.5% and alcaftadine 0.25% are comparable in treating symptoms and signs of mild to moderate allergic conjunctivitis. None of these drugs are effective as monotherapy in treating severe allergic conjunctivitis. Olopatadine 0.2% is most cost-effective and equally effective as bepotastine 1.5% and alcaftadine 0.25% in treating allergic conjunctivitis. Olopatadine 0.2% may be prescribed to patients as initial therapy considering the low socio-economic status of majority of patients in our country.

Keywords: Allergic; Conjunctivitis; Olopatadine; Bepotastine; Alcaftadine

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Citation

Citation: Upasna Ajmani., et al. “Comparative Efficacy of Olopatadine 0.2%, Bepotastine 1.5% and Alcaftadine 0.25% in Treatment of Allergic Conjunctivitis".Acta Scientific Ophthalmology 4.2 (2021): 15-21.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Upasna Ajmani., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.