Impact of AMD and treatment regimens on patient-reported visual function

Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a degenerative disease marked by a progressive loss of central vision. Untreated neovascular AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the industrialized world. The dry (non-neovascular) form of the disease is the most common manifestation. However, the majority of severe vision loss and blindness occurs in patients with the untreated wet (neovascular) form of the disease. Both forms, but particularly the neovascular form, have a tremendous impact on vision-related and other quality-of-life parameters. The introduction of anti-angiogenic therapies, primarily ranibizumab and bevacizumab, has revolutionized the treatment of AMD and, in patients in whom the treatments are effective, significantly improved quality-of-life parameters. Although approximately 33% of patients will have 15 or more letters of visual acuity gain, a majority of individuals with AMD will still experience significant negative effects from the vision-related consequences. Therefore, it is important that clinicians are aware of the impact of AMD on their patients' quality of life as reflected by patient-reported visual function, and offer therapies designed to reduce such impact.