gms | German Medical Science

104th DOG Annual Meeting

21. - 24.09.2006, Berlin

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Last stage glaucoma in Germany: Costs and quality of life of patients from a Vision Rehabilitation Centre in Munich

Meeting Abstract

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  • S. Fröhlich - Department of Ophthalmology, Ludwig-Maximillian University, Munich
  • P. Buchholz - Allergan R&D Europe, Ettlingen
  • M. Aagren - MUUSMANN Research & Consulting, Copenhagen, Denmark

Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft e.V.. 104. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft (DOG). Berlin, 21.-24.09.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06dogSA.12.09

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dog2006/06dog375.shtml

Published: September 18, 2006

© 2006 Fröhlich et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective

This study is made with the objective of estimating the societal costs and the quality of life among patients with late stage POAG. This German analysis is part of multinational European study including three other countries.

Methods

Charts of late stage POAG patients were reviewed and the patients were interviewed over the phone. Utility values are measured by EQ-5D and based on UK-weights (as no German weights exist).

Results

60 late stage glaucoma patients were included. The patients were 74.2 years on average and had a mean best eye visual acuity of 0.294 (Snellen decimal). Average annual health care resource use costs were €1,266 (SD: 1,116). Average costs of tests and procedures (€578) were the largest contributor to annual health care costs, followed by medication (€432). Also costs related to non health care were estimated. The most extensive cost is cost of home help. The average cost of home help is €542 (SD:1,186) per year. Besides annual costs in the follow-up period the patients have also had previous costs related to devices and surgery. Quality of life is negatively influenced by visual acuity (of the best eye, p<0.01). Generally, the health related quality of life average score is 0.71.

Conclusions

This study has shown that late stage glaucoma is associated with considerable costs. Some studies have shown prevalence figures of up to 4% and, thus, making it a substantial cost to society. It is likely, that early treatment with potential to prevent disease progression would be cost-effective or maybe even cost saving. Besides costs, late stage glaucoma also influences health related quality of life. Lower visual acuity is predictive for a lower quality of life.