Abstract
Purpose::
This study was undertaken to document the economic burden of NV-AMD on elderly patients in five countries.
Methods::
A total of 401 bilateral NV-AMD patients recruited from retina specialists in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK) were surveyed in a cross-sectional, observational study. Physicians’ records and patients’ standardized telephone interviews were used to record medical resource utilization, assistance with daily living, and social benefits. A societal perspective was taken to account for the socioeconomic cost of bilateral NV-AMD.
Results::
The mean age of NV-AMD patients was similar across countries (76.2-79.6 years). NV-AMD patients reported substantial health-related problems (i.e., falls and depression treatment) and associated health resource utilization. The annual cost included direct vision-related medical cost, direct non-vision related medical cost, and direct non-medical related cost. The average annual societal cost per bilateral NV-AMD patient treated was US dollars $9,667 in Canada, $8,457 in France, $14,321 in Germany, $6,597 in Spain, and $6,099 in UK. NV-AMD expense allocations were substantively different by country in the following categories: medical vs. non-medical cost; cost of unilateral vs. bilateral patients; cost of patients with different severity of NV-AMD, i.e. normal vs. moderate vs. severe patients.
Conclusions::
The societal costs of all NV-AMD cases are estimated to range between $772 and $3,772 million in these countries. Differences in national healthcare systems and NV-AMD treatment patterns were reflected in the wide variation of NV-AMD expenses across the five surveyed countries.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower