| Title: |
Treatment of age-related neovascular macular degeneration: the patient’s perspective |
| Authors: |
Müller, Sabrina; Ehlken, Christoph; Bauer-Steinhusen, Ulrike; Lechtenfeld, Werner; Hasanbasic, Zoran; Agostini, Hansjürgen; Wilke, Thomas |
| Source: |
Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology. - 255, 11 (2017) , 2237-2246, ISSN: 0721-832X |
| Publication Year: |
2017 |
| Collection: |
University of Freiburg: FreiDok |
| Description: |
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 with regard to 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 towards 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 on their own. However, 64.7% needed a driver or an accompanying person to attend their IVT appointments. In addition, 3.9% of the patients were afraid of 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 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 ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/141159 |
| DOI: |
10.1007/s00417-017-3739-1 |
| Availability: |
https://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/141159; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-1411598; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-017-3739-1; https://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/dnb/download/141159 |
| Rights: |
free |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.211EC33A |
| Database: |
BASE |