Injection treatement – contacts per 1,000 inhabitants, 50 years and older
Injection treatment in the eye is relevant for patients with wet age‑related macular degeneration (AMD), by far the largest patient group, as well as for macular edema due to diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, and a number of less common eye diseases. Since 2013, the two most commonly used drugs have been bevacizumab (Avastin), used off‑label, and aflibercept (Eylea). Since 2023, a new medication, faricimab (Vabysmo), has been increasingly adopted, leading to a decline in the use of other drugs. In 2025, a new version of aflibercept was also introduced, with a higher dosage (8 mg) compared with the previous 2 mg. Faricimab and 8 mg aflibercept were developed with the aim of providing a longer duration of effect, potentially allowing patients to be treated with fewer injections than before.
Nationally, the number of annual contacts increased from 61 000 in 2015 to just over 144 000 in 2024. During the same period, the number of injection treatments per 1,000 inhabitants rose from 35 to 68. However, from 2024 to 2025 there was a decrease of about 800 contacts, and the number of contacts per 1 000 inhabitants fell from 68 to 66. This occurred despite an increase in the number of patients, from 23 500 to nearly 25 000. The coming years will show whether the reduction in injection treatments from 2024 to 2025 marks the beginning of a trend associated with the new medications.
There is still considerable geographical variation in the numbers, consistent with an earlier study on injection treatment for eye diseases conducted by Husum and colleagues. They point to a need for clearer governance, national guidelines, and a national quality registry for this type of treatment.
The discussion was written in collaboration with Øystein Kalsnes Jørstad, Head of Section and Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Oslo University Hospital and the University of Oslo.
The analysis is based on activity data from the Norwegian Patient Register (NPR) for somatic specialist health services. The data includes activity in public hospitals and private hospitals that provide publicly funded services. Data from specialists under public funding contracts are not included, as this treatment is only provided in hospitals.
The sample consists of contacts for patients aged 50 years or older registered with a primary or secondary diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, AMD (H35.3), venous occlusion (H34.8 or H34.9), or diabetic retinopathy (H36.0, E10.3, or E11.3) in combination with procedure code CKD05.
The drug aflibercept is identified using a særkode code and an ATC-code (1LA05, S01LA05), and faricimab using the ATC code S01LA09.
When a contact is registered with two or more of the relevant diagnosis codes (e.g., AMD as the primary condition and venous occlusion as the secondary condition), the primary diagnosis is chosen.
The place of treatment is divided into three categories:
In order to compare the catchment areas and between years, the rates have been adjusted for gender and age. The adjustment was done using the direct method with the population in 2023 as the reference population.
In graphs with patient‑aggregated data, the numbers are adjusted to avoid double‑counting patients. The actual number of patients is therefore higher when looking at a single variable for a focus area. For example, patients who have received both private and public treatment during a year are counted only once in total, which means that the number of patients in private treatment will be underreported.
SKDE is solely responsible for the interpretation and presentation of the data provided by NPR. FHI/NPR is not responsible for analyses or interpretations based on the data.
All of the data used in the charts for this analysis can be downloaded as a JSON file.
