OBJECTIVES

: This research aimed to understand and characterize patients’ symptoms and their impacts across four retinal disease indications: neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

METHODS

: Qualitative interviews were conducted with US adult patients with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of nAMD, DME, RVO, and/or PDR. Semi-structured 1:1 interviews used open-ended questions to elicit reports of retinal disease symptoms and impacts. Patients were asked to rate the disturbance of symptoms and their impacts they experienced on a scale of 0–10, with 10 being the most disturbing. Interview transcripts were analyzed using ATLAS.ti v8 software.

RESULTS

A total of 20 patients (N=10 nAMD patients and N=10 patients split across DME, RVO, and/or PDR participated in the interviews. Participants had a mean age of 58 years (range 39-74), were 70% female, and 70% white (non-Hispanic). A total of 19 different symptoms and 28 impacts of retinal diseases were reported during concept elicitation across all patient interviews. The most frequently reported symptoms across all patients were blurry or blurred vision (19/20 patients; disturbance-nAMD: 8.1; other indications: 7.0), loss of vision / visual acuity (14/20 patients; disturbance-nAMD: 8.2; other indications: 7.8), and wavy / curved vision (metamorphopsia) (13/20 patients; disturbance-nAMD: 6.8; other indications: 4.4). The most commonly reported immediate impacts across all patients were difficulty driving (19/20 patients; disturbance-nAMD: 8.0; other indications: 8.3), difficulty reading (18/20 patients; disturbance-nAMD: 7.0; other indications: 6.8), and difficulty participating in hobbies (17/20 patients; disturbance-nAMD: 6.5; other indications: 7.4).

CONCLUSIONS

: Interview findings identified multiple prevalent and/or disturbing symptoms and impacts experienced by patients, many of which were similar across all four retinal disease indications. This research may help inform the selection of suitable patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures for inclusion in future clinical trials in nAMD, DME, RVO, and/or PDR.