Risk Factors for Legal Blindness in 77 Japanese Patients with Endogenous Endophthalmitis: A Multicenter Cohort Study from J-CREST.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We investigated potential predictive factors for visual prognosis in Japanese patients with endogenous endophthalmitis. DESIGN: Retrospective observational multicenter cohort study. METHODS: We examined the characteristics of 77 Japanese patients with endogenous endophthalmitis and performed statistical analyses of these real-world data. The primary endpoint was the identification of factors associated with visual prognosis. We examined differences between patients in the better vision and legal blindness groups at 12 weeks after treatment initiation. RESULTS: The five risk factors for visual impairment at 12 weeks after treatment initiation were presence of pressure injuries, severe clinical symptoms (presence of eye pain and ciliary injection), pathogen identification, and poor best-corrected visual acuity at baseline. Staphylococcus aureus and fungus were associated with a better visual impairment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Endogenous endophthalmitis remains a severe ocular infection; however, it can be managed with rapid treatments, as well as other advances in medical knowledge and technology.