EURETINA abstract: Humanistic Burden and Health Resource Utilization Among Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Patients: Results from a Multi-Country Cross-Sectional Study

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to assess the burden of bilateral subfoveal, neovascular AMD on patient-reported functioning and health resource utilization (HRU) as compared to elderly controls from general population. Setting: The study was conducted in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Methods: We surveyed 401 bilateral neovascular AMD patients recruited from retina specialists and 471 elderly non-AMD (control) patients from general practitioners in a cross-sectional, observational study. Physicians recorded demographic and treatment information. Patients completed a telephone survey of the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25), the EuroQol (EQ-5D), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and history of falls, fractures and HRU. We evaluated the impact of AMD on patients' functioning and HRU using chi-square tests, analysis of variance, and multivariate regression models. Results: The mean (sd) age of AMD patients was 78.05 (6.8) years and 66% were female. The mean NEI VFQ overall scale score (95% CI) was 50.9 (49.5, 52.2) in AMD patients, substantially worse than the control patients 90.8 (89.5, 92.6) after adjusting for better seeing eye visual acuity, age, gender, co-morbidities (p<0.001). AMD patients reported significantly more anxiety and depression symptoms than control patients on the HADS scales (adjusted anxiety: 6.7 vs. 4.9, p=0.0001; depression: 7.8 vs. 4.1, p=0.0001). AMD affected patients' perception of their general health significantly more than control subjects measured by the EQ-5D (0.65 vs. 0.75, p=0.0001). Conclusions: Bilateral AMD patients reported substantially worse quality of life, poorer vision-related functioning, and more anxiety and depression symptoms compared to a control group of subjects without AMD.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: Yes

AUTHORS: Jordi Mones, J. Lotery, J. Pauleikhoff, G. Soubrane, A. Cruess, G. Zlateva

This research was supported by Pfizer Ophthalmics