ArticleBMJ open2015
Diffusion of anti-VEGF injections in the Portuguese National Health System.
Article in BMJ open, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Europe: The Past and the Future.Ophthalmology · 2017Pooled it
- Perceived stress levels among patients treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration with anti-VEGF injections.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2025Article
- Global, regional and national burden of Glaucoma: an update analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.International ophthalmology · 2024Article
- Cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence and causes of vision impairment in Northwest Portugal using capture-recapture.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Predictors of problems reported on the EQ-5D-3L dimensions among people with impaired vision in northern Portugal.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2022Observational
- Observational
- The economics of vision impairment and its leading causes: A systematic review.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Review
- All India Ophthalmological Society members' survey: Practice pattern of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injection.Indian journal of ophthalmology · 2020Article
- A noninterventional study to monitor patients with diabetic macular oedema starting treatment with ranibizumab (POLARIS).Acta ophthalmologica · 2018Article
- Predicting participation of people with impaired vision in epidemiological studies.BMC ophthalmology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo analyse the temporal and geographical diffusion of antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) interventions, and its determinants in a National Health System (NHS).
settingNHS Portuguese hospitals.
participantsAll inpatient and day cases related to eye diseases at all Portuguese public hospitals for the period 2002-2012 were selected on the basis of four International Classification of Diseases 9th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes for procedures: 1474, 1475, 1479 and 149. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured anti-VEGF treatment rates by year and county. The determinants of the geographical diffusion were investigated using generalised linear modelling.
resultsWe analysed all hospital discharges from all NHS hospitals in Portugal (98,408 hospital discharges corresponding to 57,984 patients). National rates of hospitals episodes for the codes for procedures used were low before anti-VEGF approval in 2007 (less than 12% of hospital discharges). Between 2007 and 2012, the rates of hospital episodes related to the introduction of anti-VEGF injections increased by 27% per year. Patients from areas without ophthalmology departments received fewer treatments than those from areas with ophthalmology departments. The availability of an ophthalmology department in the county increased the rates of hospital episodes by 243%, and a 100-persons greater density per km(2) raised the rates by 11%.
conclusionsOur study shows a large but unequal diffusion of anti-VEGF treatments despite the universal coverage and very low copayments. The technological innovation in ophthalmology may thus produce unexpected inequalities related to financial constraints unless the implementation of innovative techniques is planned and regulated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.