Two-Year Follow-Up Study of Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Undergoing Anti-VEGF Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 867
• Main Authors: Kim, Jae-Gon, Kim, Yu Cheol, Kang, Kyung Tae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2024
• Subjects: Care and treatment; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Data collection; Diabetes; Diabetic retinopathy; Diagnosis; Disease; Epidemics; Health aspects; Hospitals; Influence; Macular degeneration; Pandemics; Patient outcomes; Patients; Physiological aspects; Retina; Review boards; Software; South Korea; Variance analysis; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Visual acuity; South Korea; Japan; COVID-19; vascular endothelial growth factors; macular degeneration
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm13030867
• EISSN: 2077-0383

regular intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment is crucial for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), and delayed treatment can exacerbate disease progression.
we compared the outcomes of on-time versus delayed intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment for patients with nAMD. This study was conducted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with a 2-year follow-up period. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and anatomical findings were evaluated before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and at 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-months post-pandemic.
The delayed and on-time groups comprised 54 and 72 patients, respectively. After the pandemic, the injection interval increased by 0.65 ± 1.51 months (
= 0.003), with 22.2% of the patients in the delayed group switching to the treat-and-extended regimen (
< 0.001). The delayed group showed greater mean BCVA deterioration (
= 0.027) and central subfield thickness (
= 0.037) at 6 months and worse maximum subretinal fluid height (
= 0.022) at 18 months than the on-time group. No difference was observed between the groups in the second year.
the negative effects of delaying anti-VEGF treatment because of the COVID-19 pandemic can be ameliorated by changing the treatment regimen and shortening treatment intervals.