Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate current trend and future status of macula diseases focusing on patient number and treatment profile using the health insurance claims in Japan.
Methods:
Among 2.07 million Japanese of same or more than 20 years who were registered in the Claims database of Japan Medical Data Center (JMDC) from 2005 to 2013, patients with epiretinal membranes (ERM), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), macular hole (MH), central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR), and myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) were extracted based on diagnosis codes of the International Classification of Diseases version 10. Changing trend of patient number and treatment profile were investigated during the study period. We estimated future status of macular diseases based on an official future popular prediction report.
Results:
The prevalence of macular diseases among adult Japanese significantly increased from 0.59% in 2005 to 1.38% in 2013 (P=0.008). The most popular macular disease was ERM of 0.86%, followed by AMD of 0.30%, MH 0.14%, CSCR of 0.069%, and mCNV of 0.025%. AMD and CSCR were more dominant in male, while ERM, MH, and mCNV were more dominant in female. All subtypes except for CSCR showed age-dependent elevation of their prevalence. Major treatment for AMD was changed from photo-dynamic therapy to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, but that for other macular diseases did not show a significant change. The patient number with macular disease was predicted to increase constantly by 2035 and its will reach to 1.6 million.
Conclusions:
The number of patients with macular diseases was increased in the past decade and this trend will be continued in coming 20 years.