Patient experience of intravitreal injections in AMD

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common sight-threatening disease in subjects above 50 years of age and new treatments include intravitreal injection of anti-angiogenic substances. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients’ experiences of such treatment. Subjects: Ten subjects, aged 66-95 (8 females and 2 males) participated. Nine of these had recently received their first injection and one the second injection. Methods: Interviews were performed in the patient's home and contained only one, open question: Can you tell us how you experienced the injection in your eye? The participants were allowed to speak freely, but follow-up questions were asked by the interviewers. Verbatim records were generated by tape recordings. Results: Four main topics were identified in the responses. 1. Information; the subjects experienced deficient information before treatment. 2. Fear and discomfort, related to treatment procedure or to visual loss. 3. Confidence in the care; a few subjects reported a few negative experiences, but no major complaints regarding the current procedure. 4. Subjective expectations on the effect on vision were that further visual impairment would be avoided, but there were also some reports of expected visual improvement, relevant for daily life activities. Conclusion: The dominating theme in the responses was fear of further visual loss, indicating a need for individually adapted/targeted information in order to provide the patients with a realistic view of the disease and the expected effects of current treatments.