Comparison of Diabetic Macular Edema Treatment Patterns and Outcomes by European and US Retina-treating Ophthalmologists

Abstract

AIM: To uncover and evaluate diabetic macular edema (DME) patient treatment patterns in the US and the largest EU countries. METHODS: Quantitative analyses of self-report data from retina-treating ophthalmologists via 30-minute Internet-based surveys. Data were collected across the US (one study) and EU (two studies— EU-1 and EU-2) between November 2011 and January 2013. Visual outcomes and rates of treatment success or failure were evaluated. RESULTS: Respondents were surveyed across the US (n=71) and EU (EU-1: n=180; EU-2: n=106). Nearly one-third of treated patients (US 38.6 %; EU-1 37.8 %; EU-2 30.7 %) reached a plateau in vision improvement. Geographical comparison showed no significant difference in responses between the US and the EU (EU-1, EU-2) (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These data help to quantify the size of the chronic DME patient population in the US and EU, which is not achieving an acceptable functional outcome with current therapy. The paper provides solid empirical evidence regarding similarities in DME patient treatment and outcomes in the US and EU. The global and reproducible similarities in terms of physicians’ perceptions of the threshold of DME treatment burden and the visual outcomes when treatment benefit is limited are compelling. This is especially interesting within the present context where information regarding the effect of current treatments is limited. Diabetes is growing around the world at epidemic proportions, and these data provide insight into the impact DME may have on healthcare systems.