Table 4.

Comparison of monthly versus as needed anti-VEGF treatment regimens in cn-AMD patients

Comparison	Outcome	No of RCTs*, no of patients	Baseline ETDRS letters† and Snellen equivalent	As-needed regimen Mean (range)†	Monthly regimen Mean (range)†	Risk ratio or mean difference estimate (95% CI)	I2‡ (%)
As-needed Rx vs monthly Rx	Vision gain	2/1622	62 (61 to 63)~20/63	20.8% (15.1 to 26.4)	28.9% (25.1 to 32.8)	0.73 (0.55 to 0.95)	0
	BCVA change	2/1622	62 (61 to 63)~20/63	4.9 (3.5 to 6.4)	6.9 (5.5 to 8.3)	−1.9 (-0.5 to 3.3)	0
	Mortality	2/1795	NA	4.6% (2.6 to 6.6)	2.3% (1.4 to 3.3)	2.00 (1.15 to 3.45)	12

*CATT and IVAN trials (Martin et al; Chakravarthy et al).^{35 51}

†Mean (range) were derived across control groups of the included RCTs.

‡I² <75 was interpreted as low evidence of substantial variation across included RCTs. For each treatment regimen, patients were randomised to be treated with bevacizumab or ranibizumab.

anti-VEGF, antivascular endothelial growth factor; BCVA, best-corrected visual acuity; CATT, Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials; cn-AMD, choroidal neovascular age-related macular degeneration; ETDRS, early treatment diabetic retinopathy study; IVAN, Inhibit VEGF in Age-related choroidal Neovascularisation; RCTs, randomised controlled trials.