Demographics of the enrolled patients.

Purpose
The aim of this study was to develop a new eye drop aid and investigate its efficacy in glaucoma patients.
Methods
The developed eye drop aid is compatible with most therapeutic eye drops and helps users with limited neck retroversion. Adult glaucoma patients admitted to the University of Yamanashi Hospital for glaucoma surgery who fulfilled the following criteria were included: a history of using glaucoma eye drops for at least 6 months, no upper limb loss or dysfunction, and no physical or cognitive disturbances that would interfere with activities of daily living. In terms of corrected visual acuity, the included patients had a logMAR score of at least 1 in at least one eye. Eye drops containing a 0.1% sodium hyaluronate ophthalmic mixture were used in this study. The eye drops were applied to the eyes in the seated position as they would normally be used. The use of the eye drop aid was explained, and the patients tried to instill eye drops with the eye drop aid after two trials. The patients then instilled one eye drop in the supine position, first without the eye drop aid and then with the eye drop aid. Success was defined as the eye drops being dropped into the conjunctival cul-de-sac without touching the ocular surface, face or eyelashes. The patients were surveyed about the usefulness of the eye drop aid. Although the aid was designed to require minimal grip force, we measured the force needed to dispense a single drop for five commonly used clinical eye drops.
Results
Eighty-eight patients were included (51 men and 37 women, mean age: 67.3 ± 13.4 years). The success rate in the seated position without the eye drop aid was 71.6%, and this rate decreased with increasing age; with the eye drop aid, the success rate improved significantly to 97.8%. The success rate in the supine position without the aid (86.4%) was significantly better than that in the seated position, and the eye drop aid increased the success rate to 97.8%. The eye drop aid reduced the squeeze force required to instill eye drops (reduction of 10.3%−53.5%) for all types of eye drops.
Conclusion
Even though the patients were accustomed to using glaucoma eye drops, 28.4% of the patients were not able to instill eye drops properly. The eye drop aid significantly improved the success rate of eye drop instillation, especially when the eye drops were administered while the patients were seated.

研究目的
本研究旨在开发一款新型滴眼辅助装置（eye drop aid），并探究其在青光眼患者中的应用疗效。

研究方法
本研究开发的滴眼辅助装置适配绝大多数治疗性滴眼液，可帮助颈部后伸活动受限的使用者完成滴眼操作。纳入因青光眼手术入住山梨大学附属医院的成年青光眼患者，纳入标准如下：青光眼滴眼液用药史≥6个月，无上肢缺失或功能障碍，无影响日常生活活动的躯体或认知障碍。就矫正视力而言，纳入患者至少单眼的最小分辨角对数（logMAR）评分≥1。
本研究使用的滴眼液为含0.1%透明质酸钠的眼科制剂。受试者按照日常使用习惯，以坐位姿势滴入滴眼液。研究人员向患者讲解滴眼辅助装置的使用方法，患者经两次试操作后，尝试使用该装置滴入滴眼液。随后受试者以仰卧姿势滴入单眼滴眼液，先不使用辅助装置，再使用该装置。滴眼成功定义为：滴眼液顺利滴入结膜囊（conjunctival cul-de-sac），且未接触眼表、面部或睫毛。研究人员对患者就该滴眼辅助装置的使用效用进行了问卷调查。尽管该装置设计时即追求握持力需求极低，但本研究仍针对5种临床常用滴眼液，测量了单次滴出单滴药液所需的握持力。

研究结果
本研究共纳入88例患者（男51例，女37例，平均年龄67.3±13.4岁）。未使用辅助装置时，坐位滴药的成功率为71.6%，且成功率随年龄增长呈下降趋势；使用该辅助装置后，成功率显著提升至97.8%。未使用辅助装置时，仰卧位滴药的成功率（86.4%）显著高于坐位，使用辅助装置后该成功率亦提升至97.8%。针对所有类型的滴眼液，该滴眼辅助装置均可降低滴药所需的挤压力，降幅达10.3%~53.5%。

研究结论
尽管受试者均已习惯使用青光眼滴眼液，但仍有28.4%的患者无法正确完成滴眼操作。该滴眼辅助装置可显著提升滴眼操作的成功率，尤其在患者以坐位姿势滴药时效果尤为突出。