The negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on age-related macular degeneration patients treated with intravitreal bevacizumab injections.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

COVID-19 emerged in the end of 2019 and was declared a worldwide pandemic shortly after. Social distancing and lockdowns resulted in lower compliance in intravitreal injections and office visits. We aimed to assess clinical outcomes among patients who missed these visits compared to those who arrived as planned.

Methods

Patients who missed or were late to office visits or intravitreal injections were defined as non-adherent and were compared to adherent patients. Our main outcomes were the need for subsequent injections, mean change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and central macular thickness (CMT).

Results

This study included 77 patients (24 adherent and 53 non-adherent). The mean BCVA remained stable during the study period for the adherent group (p

SUBMITTER: Arnon R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9125960 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature