[Analysis of real-life data on treatment quality in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and vein occlusion at a German university eye hospital].

PURPOSE

Real-life data provide an insight into the reality of patient care under everyday conditions. Digitization in ophthalmology has led to a structured documentation of patient data. This makes it possible to automate the retrieval of a huge amount of real-life data by developing suitable query algorithms.

METHODS

Using an automated query from fully electronic patient documentation, real-life therapy data were obtained in patients with intravitreal operative drug delivery (IVOM) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and vein occlusion (VO). Among other things, injection frequency, frequency of visits and best-corrected visual acuity over a total of 4 years of treatment were recorded. The influence of factors, such as patient age, distance to the clinic and type of insurance on the quality of care were also investigated. Treatment-naïve and pretreated patients were analyzed.

RESULTS

In the first year AMD patients received an average of 4.59 ± 2.00 injections with 10.29 ± 4.47 visits, in the second year 3.83 ± 2.23 injections with 7.72 ± 5.78 visits, in the third year 3.40 ± 2.18 injections with 7.19 ± 5.44 visits and in the fourth year 3.11 ± 2.29 injections with 6.46 ± 6.20 visits. The VO patients received an average of 4.17 ± 2.15 injections with 9.60 ± 4.88 visits in the first year, 3.31 ± 2.03 injections with 7.75 ± 4.88 visits in the second year, 2.94 ± 2.00 injections with 6.55 ± 4.77 visits in the third year and 3.03 ± 1.94 injections with 7.18 ± 5.26 visits in the fourth year. The course of the visual acuity was relatively stable over 4 years. With repect to the quality of care, a younger patient age and a closer distance to the clinic seemed to have a positive influence.

CONCLUSION

The study results show a positive trend towards an improved quality of care in intravitreal injection therapy in patients with AMD and VO. The age of the patient and the place of residence are factors influencing the therapy.