Treatment of age-related neovascular macular degeneration:the patient’s perspective
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess patients’ views and expectations with regard to neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy (IVT).
Methods: We conducted a multicenter, non-interventional, prospective cohort study including nAMD patients treated with IVT in Germany. Patients with at least one IVT before study enrollment and aged ≥50 years were included. Three telephone interviews were conducted during a 12-month observational period. Here, patient’s beliefs/expectations about the nAMD disease and the IVT treatment were discussed. Only patients who completed all three phone interviews were included in the analyses. We used a two-step cluster analysis to identify patient clusters regarding specific patient attitudes toward nAMD and its treatment.
Results: Three hundred and thirty-two patients completed all interviews (mean age of 76.4 ± 7.2 years, 59.0%women). Out of these, 57.8% acknowledged that they needed general assistance in daily life, while 77.4% stated being able to attend general medical appointments independently. However, 64.7% required a driver or an accompanying person to attend their IVT appointments. In addition, 3.9% of the patients feared IVT side effects. Also, 87.3% and 43.1% of the patients could name their disease or the anti-VEGF drug administered, respectively. More than three-quarters of the patients (83.1%) were aware of the possible consequences of nAMD by stating vision loss or blindness, but only 16.6% knew that nAMD is a chronic disease. Generally, patients were optimistic: 70.2%, 5.1%, and 13.0% of them expected stable visual acuity (VA), a significant improvement, or expected worsening of VA in the next year, respectively. Almost two-thirds of patients who provided their therapy expectations (47.0%) anticipated fewer injections/discontinuation of IVT. We identified five patient clusters differing significantly from each other with regard to four variables: being afraid of IVT, nAMD disease awareness, optimism with regard to the effectiveness of IVT, and nAMD disease and treatment knowledge.
Conclusions: Only a minority of patients are aware of the chronic nature of nAMD. To motivate patients to accept a life-long IVT treatment, physicians and caregivers must know that different patient types exist with significant differences in communication needs.
