A Multicenter, Cross-Sectional Study of the Incidence of Major Macular Diseases That Cause Visual Impairment and Require Therapeutic Intervention in Greece: The ADVICE Study

PURPOSE: This multicenter, epidemiological, cross-sectional study aimed to estimate the annual cumulative incidence of major macular diseases that cause visual impairment and require therapeutic intervention in the routine care of Greece. METHODS: The study was carried out between December 2012 and May 2015 in 20 ophthalmology clinics. Over a one-year recruitment period per study site, all treatment naïve adult patients newly diagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration, visual impairment due to diabetic macular edema or macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion requiring therapeutic management and who had not been diagnosed or treated for the same disease in the past were enrolled after providing informed consent. Study data were collected during the single study visit. RESULTS: A total of 1532 incident cases were enrolled. The estimated annual cumulative incidence of wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema and macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion requiring therapeutic management was 0.82 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.76, 0.88; n=723], 0.63 (95% CI: 0.58, 0.69; n=559), and 0.29 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.32; n=250) per 10,000 cases, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study provides estimates of the incidence of major macular diseases causing visual impairment and requiring treatment in outpatient hospital settings in Greece, indicating a considerable socioeconomic burden to the healthcare system.