Delaying anti-VEGF therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic: long-term impact on visual outcomes in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
BMC Ophthalmol
; 23(1): 156, 2023 Apr 17.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2300756
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To evaluate the outcomes of delayed intravitreal injections (IVIs) caused by the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).METHODS:
nAMD patients with scheduled IVIs between March 1st and April 30th, 2020 were stratified through a risk-based selection into a non-adherent group (NA-group) if they skipped at least one IVI and an adherent group (A-group) if they followed their treatment schedule. During the pandemic visit (v0), if a significant worsening of the disease was detected, a rescue therapy of three-monthly IVIs was performed. Multimodal imaging and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) findings were evaluated after 6 months (v6), compared between groups and with the visit prior the lockdown (v-1).RESULTS:
Two hundred fifteen patients (132 females, mean age 81.89 ± 5.98 years) delayed their scheduled IVI while 83 (53 females, mean age 77.92 ± 6.06 years) adhered to their protocol. For both groups, BCVA at v0 was significantly worse than v-1 (mean 4.15 ± 7.24 ETDRS letters reduction for the NA-group and 3 ± 7.96 for the A-group) but remained stable at v6. The two groups did not significantly differ in BCVA trends after 6 months and neither for development of atrophy nor fibrosis.CONCLUSIONS:
A risk-based selection strategy and a rescue therapy may limit the long-term outcomes of an interruption of the treatment protocol in patients with nAMD.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Wet Macular Degeneration
/
COVID-19
/
Macular Degeneration
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Ophthalmol
Journal subject:
Ophthalmology
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12886-023-02864-x
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