What Effect Does Ethnicity Have on the Response to Ranibizumab in the Treatment of Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration?

Abstract

Aims: To compare, in a single urban population, the visual outcomes of ranibizumab monotherapy in “White” (W) and “Non-White” (NW) patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Procedures: Prospective data was collected from 434 eyes of 217 patients with wet AMD patients receiving intravitreal ranibizumab. Baseline and monthly LogMAR visual acuities were obtained. All patients received treatment under a “treat and extend policy” consisting of three monthly injections of ranibizumab, followed by individualised sequentially lengthening follow-up intervals when stable. Results: At 24 months, the percentage of eyes that maintained or improved vision was 91% in W patients and 83% in NW patients. Correspondingly, at 24 months, the percentage of visual loss was 9% for W patients and 17% of NW patients. We found that whilst W patients required fewer overall injections (14.1) they gained an average 4 LogMAR letters of visual acuity. However, NW patients required more injections (14.6) to gain 0.5 LogMAR letters of visual acuity over the same 24 months of treatment. Conclusions: Individualised ranibizumab monotherapy is more effective in preserving vision for W compared to NW patients with wet AMD.

Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors for predominantly Caucasian myopic choroidal neovascularization: 2‐year treatment outcomes in clinical practice: data from the Fight Retinal Blindness! Registry

“…Our study found similar visual outcomes with a previous 1-year outcomes real-world study of predominantly Caucasian mCNV patients treated with ranibizumab (Hamilton et al 2020). Whether mCNV behave differently in Asian and Caucasian eyes, as neovascular age-related macular degeneration does (Mohamed, Gadhvi & Mensah 2018;Kokame et al 2019), is yet to be established. A post-hoc analysis of a subgroup of patients from the RADI-ANCE study [Ranibizumab And PDT (verteporfin) evaluation in mCNV] did not find any visual outcome difference between Caucasian and Asian patients (Holz et al 2016) Korol et al 2020).…”

“… 2020 ). Whether mCNV behave differently in Asian and Caucasian eyes, as neovascular age‐related macular degeneration does (Mohamed, Gadhvi & Mensah 2018 ; Kokame et al. 2019 ), is yet to be established.…”

Quantitative Analysis of OCT for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Using Deep Learning

“…Furthermore, stratifying our cohort to analyze ethnic differences in neovascular AMD generated unequal group sizes because of the greater prevalence of AMD in White populations. 67,68 Although these results reflect outcomes from a diverse set of patients from Moorfields Eye Hospital, it does not fully represent a global population. Considering the epidemiology of AMD as a multifactorial disease for which genetics, race, diet, and lifestyle play a role in disease development, additional studies using diverse datasets would be ideal to compare analyses.…”