Patient Awareness of Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Need for Regular Fundal Examinations

Purpose: To evaluate degree of insight, accessibility to medical care, and availability of regular ocular screening examinations before diagnosis for Korean patients with wet age-related macular degeneration.Methods: Data were collected from 95 patients by questionnaire and analyzed at Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center.Results: Although 80.0% of the patients considered themselves old, only 2.1% thought they were susceptible to wet age-related macular degeneration. Of the overall patients, 48.4% thought their disease was serious despite treatment with intravitreal injections. A majority (71.6%) thought that medical care was easily accessible, 67.4% answered that hospitals were located close by, and 90.5% answered that it was easy to make appointments and they had time to visit the hospital. However, only 15.8% answered that they had undergone regular ocular examinations before being diagnosed with wet age-related macular degeneration.Conclusions: Although most patients believed that they had easy access to medical care, only 15.8% underwent regular ocular examinations. Therefore, regular ocular examinations, including fundal examinations, are required in national health screening programs. It is also important to raise public awareness of wet age-related macular degeneration by educating the general population.