Abstract
Purpose :
To calculate and compare the average interval between Anti-VEGF injections for patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD).
Methods :
All data was collected by the practice management of Retina Associates of Cleveland, Inc. Data was collected from patients who received Anti-VEGF injections of Aflibercept (AFL), Bevacizumab (BEVA), Brolucizumab-Dbll (BROL), and Ranibizumab (RAN) from July 2020 through July 2021 and includes patient number, injection service dates, injection service ID’s, procedure codes, and primary diagnoses. The patients selected were those injected unilaterally and diagnosed with DR, RVO, or wAMD. The number of days between injection service dates were calculated for each patient. The data set was then organized by primary diagnosis and average number of days between Anti-VEGF injection.
Results :
From July 2020 through July 2021, 14,911 patients were injected unilaterally. There were 1,313 DR patients with an average interval between injections of 70 days. There were 2,809 RVO patients with an average interval between injections of 54 days. There were 10,789 wAMD patients with an average interval between injections of 55 days. When comparing average interval between Anti-VEGF injections for DR versus RVO, a two-tailed t-test calculates a p-value of p<0.01. When comparing average interval between Anti-VEGF injections for DR versus wAMD, a two-tailed t-test calculates a p-value of p<0.01. Lastly, when comparing average interval between Anti-VEGF injections for RVO versus wAMD, a two-tailed t-tests calculates a p-value of p=0.25.
Conclusions :
The results of this study suggest that patients diagnosed with RVO or wAMD have a shorter interval of time between injections when compared to patients diagnosed with DR. There does not appear to be a significant difference in average injection intervals between patients with RVO and wAMD.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.