Missed Hospital Appointments of Patients Receiving Ranibizumab Therapy for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and duration of missed hospital appointments (MHAs) in a consecutive cohort of patients treated with ranibizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and to assess their impact on outcomes of therapy in a real-world clinical setting. METHODS Retrospective, cross-sectional study of consecutive patients attending medical retina clinics for nAMD treatment with ranibizumab. RESULTS Seventy-eight eyes of 78 patients met the inclusion criteria for data analysis. Mean age was 78 years with mean follow-up of 27 months. Mean visual acuity (VA) was 52 ± 16 letters at baseline, 56 ± 17 letters at year 1 and 58 ± 16 letters at year 2. At the end of the second year, 90% of the patients had lost <15 letters, 26% had gained ≥15 letters and 10% had lost ≥15 letters. Nineteen patients had at least one MHA (24%) over 2 years. There were 26 MHA episodes in total leading to a median duration of 79 days (range 35-159) between attended hospital visits. None of these MHAs occurred during the first 3 months after treatment initiation. Mean VA and central retinal thickness difference between 2 years and baseline for the MHA group was not statistically different compared with the non-MHA group. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that MHA may be a relatively common occurrence in AMD treatment clinics, but good outcomes of treatment can be achieved over 2 years despite missed hospital visits if patients are reviewed on average six times in the first year after an initial loading phase of three injections and nine times in the second year of treatment.