Factors affecting visual acuity after one year of follow up after repeated intravitreal ranibizumab for macular degeneration

Managing Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Clinical Practice: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression

The use of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents has profoundly changed the prognosis of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). As clinical experiences have accumulated, it has become mandatory to summarize data to give information that can be useful in everyday practice. We conducted a systematic review to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies that reported 12-month changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in patients with nAMD on anti-VEGF monotherapy. Data were analyzed in a random-effects meta-analysis with BCVA change as the primary outcome. Meta-regression was conducted to evaluate the impact of multiple covariates. Four hundred and twelve heterogeneous study populations (109,666 eyes) were included. Anti-VEGFs induced an overall improvement of +5.37 ETDRS letters at 12 months. Meta-regression showed that mean BCVA change was statistically greater for RCTs (p = 0.0032) in comparison with observational studies. Populations following a proactive regimen had better outcomes than those following a reactive treatment regimen. Mean BCVA change was greater in younger populations, with lower baseline BCVA and treated with a higher number of injections (p < 0.001). Our results confirm that anti-VEGFs may produce a significant functional improvement at 12 months in patients with nAMD.

Trends in Real-World Neovascular AMD Treatment Outcomes in the UK

Purpose

To report trends in real-world outcomes of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in the United Kingdom (UK) over the last decade.

Design

Systematic review.

Methods

Medline, PubMed, and Embase databases were searched from 9 April 2010 to 8 April 2020 for publications that met the inclusion criteria: treatment-naïve eyes, UK-only data and ≥1 year of follow-up. ICHOM (International Consortium for Health Outcome Measures) outcomes and study quality were assessed. Visual acuity (VA) trends were assessed in studies with ≥100 eyes at baseline.

Results

Twenty-six studies (n=25,761 eyes) were included, meeting 14–17 out of 20 Institute of Health Economics Quality Appraisal of Case Series checklist domains. Only ranibizumab and aflibercept outcome data were available. The mean injection number in the first year of treatment was 5.9 in publications from 2010 to 2015 and 7.1 from 2015 to 2020. Average baseline VA and mean one-year, two-year and three-year VA gains gradually improved over the last decade. Longer-term studies reported that the visual gains achieved in the first year of treatment were rarely maintained, with under-treatment a likely contributing factor.

Conclusion

UK real-world outcomes have improved over the last decade with improved service delivery and the adoption of more proactive treatment regimens but are still not always as impressive as registration clinical trial results. Access to longer-acting anti-VEGF therapies would reduce the treatment burden for patients, carers, and the healthcare system, potentially making replication of clinical trial results possible in the NHS.