Abstract
Purpose :
Frequent use of OCT to monitor retinal fluid is essential in the treatment of nAMD and DME. The ALBATROS data collection was set up to measure how the number of sequential OCTs as recommended by 3 German Ophthalmology Societies affects patient quality of life (QoL).
Methods :
Parameters collected were BCVA, central retinal thickness (CRT), QoL (NEI-VFQ-25) at baseline and month 12, number of anti-VEGF treatments and number of OCT scans. VFQ-25 was calculated in overall, composite and Rasch-transformed scales.
Results :
Data was collected from 102 sites (n=1444 nAMD, n=445 DME). nAMD patients had a mean improvement in vision of 3.4±19.3 (ETDRS letters±SD) from baseline to last visit, DME patients a mean improvement in vision of 4.1±13.3 letters, respectively. For nAMD patients a mean of 7.2 OCTs and 5.2 anti-VEGF injections were performed. For DME patients 7.1 OCTs and 5.0 injections were recorded (median observation time for both groups: 365 days). No relevant change was seen in Rasch-transformed QoL scales for either group. In the nAMD group the VFQ-25 subscale score showed patient relevant improvement (56.4±17.93 to 62.1±17.30) for distance vision, but not for near vision. In DME patients clinically relevant improvement was seen in VFQ-25 subscales for both distance and near vision. In DME higher VFQ-25 scores were seen when more OCT examinations were conducted. Specifically, the general health scale declined by 2.4 when >3 to ≤6 OCTs were done (3.5 injections in this group), but increased by 2.6 with >6 to ≤9 OCTs (5.3 injections) and increased by 6.5 when >9 OCTs (8.3 injections) were completed. In nAMD an increasing injection rate in the 3 OCT subgroups (3.8 vs. 5.5 vs 7.7) was not reflected by a change in VFQ-25 score despite the increase in BCVA in the higher OCT-subgroups (1.4. vs. 4.4 vs 4.1).
Conclusions :
Improvement in QoL was seen in both nAMD and DME groups with increasing number of injections and OCT examinations for distance vision and in the DME group for near vision. In DME patients there was a trend for higher scores in the VFQ-25 QoL with increasing number of OCT scans performed although this was not seen in nAMD. Management of these conditions according to the recommendations of the German Ophthalmology Societies results in a reasonable number of OCT examinations and improved patient QoL.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.