Background and importance Autologous serum eye drops (ASC) are used as a last resort in the most severe forms of dry eyes. Their manufacture and outpatient dispensing take place in few hospitals, which implies important logistical constraints for patients (blood sampling before preparation, frozen storage, monthly or bimonthly dispensing).

Aim and objectives The objective was to characterise patients treated with ASC, their dry eye severity (DES) and their adherence to treatment despite the constraints.

Material and methods This study was multicentric (4 hospitals), prospective and non-interventional conducted since Summer 2020.Treatment with ASC was the only inclusion criteria. Symptoms of ocular irritation in DES and how they affect functioning related to vision was assessed by the validated Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) form. Therapeutic adherence was assessed using a Girerd validated form adapted to eye drops. One form combining both measures was given to each outpatient coming to collect his/her ASC at each participating hospital pharmacy. Forms could be filled on site or at home. Answers were collected and analysed using Excel software.

Results Sixty-seven forms recovered from the 231 patients treated with ASC. The average age was 55 (3–88) years (1 no response (NR)). 67% of respondents were women. The most common indication was graft-versus-host disease (28%). Patients had been treated for an average of 31 (0.75–120) months. According to the OSDI score (1 NR), the DES was ‘normal’ in 18%, ‘mild’ in 28%, ‘moderate’ in 31% and ‘severe’ in 21% of patients. Regarding the Girerd score, 60 patients never had an ASC deficiency since their last hospital visit and only 5 forgot to take their drug in the morning before completing the form; also 22% of our patients had ‘good compliance’, 57% ‘minimal compliance problems’ and 21% ‘poor compliance’.

Conclusion and relevance This study showed that more than half of the patients on ASC suffered from moderate to severe dry eye, and that adherence to treatment was satisfactory, even for treatments administered for more than 7 years. This work leads us to study the possibility of assessing more generally the impact of ASC treatment on patients’ quality of life.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. Girerd X, et al. Presse Med 2001;30:1044–1048.

Conflict of interest No conflict of interest