Demographic and Clinical Factors Associated with Development of Brimonidine Tartrate 0.2%-Induced Ocular Allergy

Purpose: To identify demographic and clinical characteristics associated with the development of brimonidine tartrate 0.2%-induced ocular allergy. Patients and Methods: In this retrospective study, 133 patients affected by primary open-angle, pigmentary, narrow angle, or pseudo-exfoliative glaucoma and treated with brimonidine tartrate 0.2% were divided into two groups: allergic and non allergic to brimonidine tartrate 0.2%. The distribution of demographic (age and sex), local (history of allergic conjunctivitis, previous eye-drop ocular allergy, use of other concurrent topical medications, amount of topical medications previously used, use of contact lenses, and tear film production), and systemic (history of systemic allergies and use of systemic drugs) factors was evaluated by comparing the brimonidine tartrate 0.2% allergic and the non-allergic groups. Results: In this study, 13.5% of patients (18 of 133) developed brimonidine ocular allergy generally within two weeks from the beginning of treatment (mean time 14.8 ± 17.9 days). The brimonidine tartrate 0.2% allergic group showed a significantly higher frequency of history of ocular allergy to eye-drops (P = 0.048) and to topical beta-blockers (P = 0.019) when compared with the brimonidine tartrate 0.2% non-allergic group. Moreover, the allergic group showed a decreased tear film production (P = 0.044). Conclusion: This study showed that history of eye-drop allergies and reduction of tear film production were more frequently associated with the development of brimonidine tartrate 0.2%-induced ocular allergy.