Short-term outcomes of patients with neovascular exudative AMD: the effect of COVID-19 pandemic

Borrelli, Enrico; Grosso, Domenico; Vella, Giovanna; Sacconi, Riccardo; Battista, Marco; Querques, Lea; Zucchiatti, Ilaria; Prascina, Francesco; Bandello, Francesco; Querques, Giuseppe

PURPOSE: To estimate the impact of delayed care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the outcomes of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS: Consecutive patients with diagnosis of neovascular AMD were consecutively enrolled between March 9, 2020, and June 12, 2020, (during and immediately after the Italian COVID-19 quarantine). During the inclusion (or pandemic) visit (V(0)), patients received a complete ophthalmologic evaluation, including optical coherence tomography (OCT). Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and OCT findings from the two preceding visits (V(−1) and V(−2)) were compared with data at V(0). RESULTS: One-hundred patients (112 eyes) were enrolled in this study. The time interval between following visits was 110.7 ± 37.5 days within V(0) and V(−1) and 80.8 ± 39.7 days within V(−1) and V(−2), respectively (P < 0.0001). BCVA was statistically worse at the V(0) visit as compared with the immediately preceding (V(−1)) visit (0.50 ± 0.43 LogMAR and 0.45 ± 0.38 LogMAR at the V(0) and V(−1) visits, respectively; P = 0.046). On structural OCT, 91 out of 112 (81.2%) neovascular AMD eyes displayed the evidence of exudative disease activity at the V(0) visit, while 77 (68.7%) eyes exhibited signs of exudation at the V(−1) visit (P = 0.022). No differences in terms of BCVA and OCT findings were detected between the V(−1) and V(−2) visits. In multiple regression analysis, the difference in BCVA between V(0) and V(−1) visits was significantly associated with the interval time within these two visits (P = 0.026). CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic-related postponement in patient care proved to be significantly associated with worse short-term outcomes in these patients. [Image: see text]