Severe geographic atrophy at baseline leads to higher outpatient costs

Patients who had more severe geographic atrophy (GA) at baseline had greater healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and outpatient costs, according to a study.

In this retrospective analysis, disease-specific HCRU and costs by disease severity were assessed for 28,773 patients with GA; 24% of patients had unilateral GA and 76% had bilateral GA.

Patients in the bilateral group with greater baseline severity had a significantly higher number of outpatient (OP) visits per year.

In the outpatient setting, higher patient-related costs were associated with increasing disease severity, and higher payer-related costs were seen in patients with bilateral GA without subfoveal involvement compared to bilateral early or intermediate AMD ($280 vs $198).

The authors concluded that “Further research should explore specific contributing factors to the long-term economic burden of GA.”

Reference
Kim A, Devine B, Campbell J, et al. Healthcare resource utilization and costs in patients with geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration. Clin Ophthalmol. 2021;15:2643-2651. https://doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S307603