OBJECTIVES: Over the past decades, intravitreal injections have become one of the most commonly performed ophthalmic procedures for the management of various ocular conditions. The aim of this study was to analyze epidemiology and pharmacoutilization on patients affected by ophthalmic diseases for which intravitreal drugs are indicated.

METHODS: Administrative databases and local registries from Veneto region have been queried between 2010 and 2018 to identify diagnosis of ophthalmic pathologies indicated for treatment with intravitreal drugs (hospitalization and specialist visit databases) and intravitreal treatments (pharmaceutical and specialist visit databases).

RESULTS: Among overall population, prevalence of patients was 28.2/100,000 for wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), 5.3/100,000 for diabetic macular edema (DME); 9.8/100,000 for retinal vein occlusion (RVO); 13.6/100,000 for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), and 9.0/100,000 for diabetic retinopathy (DR). Prevalence of patients that had at least one of the ophthalmic disease analyzed was (67.7/100,000) and wAMD was disease showing highest prevalence. Among patients affected by wAMD starting intravitreal treatment, most of them had prescriptions of bevacizumab (60%), followed by aflibercept (24%) and ranibizumab (16%). Annual mean intravitreal drugs injections (±standard deviation) was 3.0 (±2.0). Mean time (±standard deviation) from diagnosis of ophthalmic disease for which intravitreal drugs were indicated to intravitreal treatments was 147.3 (±110.5) days.

CONCLUSIONS: Taking advantage of real-world data from everyday clinical practice, in the present study the epidemiology and pharmacoutilization for ophthalmic diseases indicated for intravitreal treatments were analyzed. In the period considered, among ophthalmic diseases analyzed, wAMD was the most prevalent disease. Data extracted from administrative databases of real-life clinical practice could represent tools to estimate impact of such diseases, giving insight to optimize the management of ophthalmic diseases and the resources investment, thus improving healthcare system performance at national and/or regional levels.