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  • U.K. Report: Resource Use for Geographic Atrophy

    By Jean Shaw
    Selected By: Andrew P. Schachat, MD
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    Journal Highlights

    Ophthalmology Retina, November 2019

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    Chakravarthy et al. used a large clinical dataset to estimate the use of eye care resources among patients with geo­graphic atrophy (GA). They found that resource use is highest among those with GA in one eye and choroidal neo­vascularization (CNV) in the other.

    For this retrospective analysis, the researchers collected data from 10 National Health Service clinical sites in the United Kingdom on patients with GA or early/intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Patients were seen between October 2000 and February 2016.

    Patients were sorted into four sub­groups: 1) Those with GA in both eyes (GA:GA), 2) those with GA in one eye and CNV in the fellow eye (GA:CNV), 3) those with GA in one eye and AMD in the fellow eye (GA:AMD), and 4) those with AMD in both eyes (AMD: AMD). Primary outcomes were the median number of visits that took place during the first two years after diagnosis of GA or AMD and the cost of clinical tests performed during these visits.

    The researchers evaluated data on 7,159 patients. Results were as follows:

    • Those in the AMD:AMD subgroup (n = 6,079) had a median of 2 visits and a cost of £184 during the two-year period following diagnosis.
    • Patients in the GA:GA subgroup (n = 442) had a median of 3 visits and a cost of £277.
    • Patients in the GA:AMD subgroup (n = 283) had a median of 4 visits and a cost of £369.
    • Those in the GA:CNV subgroup (n = 355) had a median of 15 visits and a cost of £1,581. 

    With regard to clinical monitoring, the authors noted variations among testing strategies. For instance, while patients in the GA:CNV subgroup were commonly evaluated via optical coher­ence tomography, those in the other subgroups were not.

    The original article can be found here.