Status of Usage of Anti-vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Age-related Macular Degeneration

Songhee Cho; Sang Jin Shin; Jae Kyung Suh; Hajin Tchoe; Min Joo Kang; Jangmi Yang; Donghyun Jee

doi:10.3341/jkos.2019.60.8.758

Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.60(8) > 1130594

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Cho, Shin, Suh, Tchoe, Kang, Yang, and Jee: Status of Usage of Anti-vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Age-related Macular Degeneration

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2019; 60(8): 758-764.

Published online: 20 August 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2019.60.8.758

Status of Usage of Anti-vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Age-related Macular Degeneration

Songhee Cho, MS¹, Sang Jin Shin, PhD¹, Jae Kyung Suh, PhD¹, Hajin Tchoe, MS¹, Min Joo Kang, MS¹, Jangmi Yang, MS¹, Donghyun Jee, MD, PhD, MPH²

¹Economic Evaluation Team, National Evidence Based Health Care Collaborating Agency, Seoul, Korea.

²Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, St. Vincent Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.

Address reprint requests to Donghyun Jee, MD, PhD, MPH. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, #93 Jungbudae-ro, Paldal-gu, Suwon 16247, Korea. Tel: 82-31-249-7343, Fax: 82-31-249-6225, doj087@mail.catholic.ac.kr

Received 3 May 2018 Revised 19 September 2018 Accepted 18 July 2019

The Korean Ophthalmological Society

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the current use of intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods

We analyzed the number and medical costs of patients with AMD diagnosed by the National Health Insurance Corporation (2007–2016). We also analyzed the number and medical costs of such patients who received anti-VEGF treatment, and analyzed the frequency, period of use, and average medical cost of anti-VEGF use in AMD patients. Finally, we evaluated the use of anti-VEGF injections for new AMD patients.

Results

The number of patients with AMD was 236,158 in 2009 and 537,528 in 2016, which represented a 2.3-fold increase over 8 years. Of these, the number of patients undergoing anti-VEGF therapy increased steadily from 9,961 in 2009 to 35,762 in 2016. The mean number of cycles of ranibizumab or aflibercept per patient was 4.87 ± 3.37, and the mean interval between treatments was 2.89 months. On average, 6.2 injections were performed in the first year of diagnosis, and the frequency of use decreased with time, with an average of 1.2 cycles after 4 years of diagnosis. Among all AMD patients in 2016, the total medical cost of those treated with anti-VEGF was 76.9 billion won, and the average medical cost per person was 2,162,145 won.

Conclusions

The use of two drugs, ranibizumab and aflibercept, as reflected in public health insurance claims, steadily increased over the study period. Notably, there was a tendency to substitute aflibercept for ranibizumab.

Keywords: Age-related macular degeneration, Intravitreal injection, Public health Korea, Ranibizumab

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Prevalence of patients with age-related macular degeneration (2009–2016)

Values are presented as n (%).

Table 2

Basic demographics of patients with age-related macular degeneration (2016)

Values are presented as n (%) unless otherwise indicated.

IQR = inter quartile range.

Table 3

Cost of patients with age-related macular degeneration by one person (2016, Korean won)

Table 4

Number of patients of age-related macular degeneration received anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment (2009–2016)

Table 5

Cost of treatment of age-related macular degeneration by one person (2016, Korean won)

Table 6

Newly diagnosed patients of age-related macular degeneration (2010–2016)

Table 7

Number of intravitreal injections of ranibizumab and aflibercept (2010–2016)

Table 8

Average numbers of intravitreal injections of ranibizumab and aflibercept according to treatment duration (years) after initial treatment

Table 9

Number of injections of ranibizumab and aflibercept (2010–2016)

Values are presented as n (%).

Notes

^{Conflicts of Interest} The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

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