Initial Treatment of Glaucoma with Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty: Economic Impact from the Perspective of the Brazilian Public Health System

Objective To evaluate the economic impact on the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS) of the initial treatment of glaucoma in two scenarios: (1) the traditional continuous clinical treatment with hypotensive eye drops and (2) the single treatment with Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty.

Economic impact analysis was conducted in three scenarios, from the least to the most conservative, for the two initial treatment methods for open-angle glaucoma in a hypothetical cohort of 5,000 individuals. Projections were then made based on a prevalence of 3% of the Brazilian population in 2021.

All three scenarios analyzed showed a significantly lower economic impact for Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty on the Brazilian Public Health System over one to five years, with a favorable difference of more than 8 billion US dollars over five years when considering 3% of the Brazilian population over 40 years old in 2021.

The economic impact on the Brazilian Public Health System was lower for Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty compared to the use of latanoprost and timolol maleate eye drops as the initial treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma in all scenarios studied over one and five-year periods. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Footnotes Conflict of Interest Statement The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Data Availability All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript