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Research shows that clinicians recommend different treatments for patients than they choose for themself

Research, led by US retinal specialists from the Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey, suggest the existence of a prescribing bias among retinal clinicians when recommending treatment options for wet AMD. In a randomised study among two hundred and twenty-six retinal specialists it was found that for patients, most clinicians recommended bevacizumab (52.2%), however, given an identical clinical presentation for themselves, clinicians were divided equally between aflibercept, bevacizumab and ranibizumab (P = 0.011). The results of the study appeared to be influenced by geographical location of the clinician but not by the clinician’s gender or years in practice. In addition, the research suggested that clinicians differed in the choice of dosing regimen with the majority (73%) choosing treat and extend for patients, versus 63% selecting treat and extend for themselves (P=0.004).