INTERNATIONAL IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN ON INTRAVITREAL THERAPY OUTCOMES: Fight Retinal Blindness Registry.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on the outcomes of eyes treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and retinal vein occlusion in eight countries. METHODS: A multicenter international database study of 5,782 eyes (4,708 patients) receiving intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor injections before, during, and after national lockdowns. The baseline visit was defined as the last visit within 3 months before lockdown, and prelockdown and postlockdown periods were defined as 6 months before and after the lockdown date. RESULTS: Eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (n = 4,649) lost vision in all countries in proportion to the reduced number of injections. The mean visual acuity change postlockdown ranged from -0.4 to -3.8 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution letters, and the median number of injections/visits decreased from 4-5/4-7 to 2-4/2-4 postlockdown. The diabetic macular edema (n = 654) and retinal vein occlusion (n = 479) eyes' mean visual acuity change ranged from -2.8 to +1.7 letters and -1.6 to +0.1 letters, and the median number of injections/visits decreased from 2.5-5/4-6 to 1-3/2-4 and from 3-5.5/4-5 to 1-3.5/2-3.5, respectively. The 6-month dropout rates postlockdown were 20% for neovascular age-related macular degeneration, 27% for diabetic macular edema, and 28% for retinal vein occlusion. CONCLUSION: This international study provides estimates of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on intravitreal therapy and suggests that prioritizing neovascular age-related macular degeneration eyes seems appropriate.

FIVE-YEAR INCIDENCE AND VISUAL ACUITY OUTCOMES FOR INTRAVITREAL THERAPY IN BILATERAL NEOVASCULAR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION: Fight Retinal Blindness! Project.

PURPOSE: To compare treatment intensity and mean visual acuity gains for first- and second-affected eyes with age-related macular degeneration nAMD over 5 years of treatment. The cumulative incidence of second-eye involvement was assessed. METHOD: We analyzed data from the Fight Retinal Blindness! project database, a prospectively designed registry of "real-world" outcomes from Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Singapore. Patients with bilateral age-related macular degeneration with ≥5 years of follow-up on treatment were included. RESULTS: Six thousand five hundred and forty-two eyes being treated for age-related macular degeneration were tracked from 2005 to 2017. Thousand two hundred and sixty-one patients had bilateral age-related macular degeneration; of whom, 302 had 5 years of follow-up. Of these, 170 patients started treatment for each eye at least 2 months apart. The mean baseline visual acuity of second-affected eyes was significantly higher than that of first-eyes (20/50 + 2 vs. 20/80; P < 0.01). Second-affected eyes lost a mean of 5.8 (-9.1 to -2.6) logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution letters after 5 years of treatment, whereas the vision of the first-affected eyes remained stable (P = 0.01). Second-affected eyes received fewer injections than the first-affected eyes after the first year of treatment (6.2/year vs. 7.8/year; P < 0.01) and reactivated earlier (376 vs. 507 days; P = 0.04). The cumulative incidence of second eye involvement was 54% over 5 years. CONCLUSION: Second-affected eyes received fewer treatments and reactivated earlier. Care should be taken to avoid undertreating second-affected eyes.