OBJECTIVES: To investigate the economic and humanistic burden of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) among the treated adult population compared to a matched-cohort of adults without nAMD.

METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of the combined 2010, 2011 and 2013 National Health and Wellness Surveys from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK was conducted. A greedy-matching algorithm matched adults of ≥50 years of age with a self-reported diagnosis of nAMD and who reported current receipt of treatment for the disease to controls (never experienced nAMD) by demographics, health characteristics, and study year (ratio 1:4). Generalized linear models were conducted to compare the nAMD respondents and matched controls, adjusting for alcohol consumption, which remained statistically different between groups after matching. Economic outcomes included self-reported healthcare use and activity impairment. Humanistic outcomes included health related quality of life (HRQoL) using SF-12v2 or SF-36v2

RESULTS: nAMD respondents (N=79) had more comorbidities (mean (SD) Charlson Comorbidity Index = 1.27(3.97) v 0.47(0.93)) (p<0.001) compared with matched controls (N=316). nAMD patients reported greater use of healthcare resources compared with the matched controls: 2.36 (95% CI 1.82-3.06) times more for HCP visits, 8.39 (95%CI 5.97-11.78) times more for ophthalmologist visits, 2.59 (95% CI 1.59-4.21) times more for hospitalizations, and 2.33 (95%CI 1.44-3.75) times more for ER visits (all p<.001). nAMD respondents also reported higher activity impairment (39.2% vs 28.5%) relative to controls (p=0.026) and had worse HRQoL, including a lower (3.9 points) physical component summary score (PCS) and lower (0.05 points) health utility scores (both p< 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The burden of nAMD on healthcare use remains significant in terms of healthcare resource utilization. nAMD burden on HRQoL manifested as lower PCS scores, utility scores, and impaired overall activity, despite patients receiving treatment. There is a need for nAMD therapies that reduce the burden of healthcare resource utilization.