Abstract
Purpose :
To determine whether race is an independent risk factor for successful surgical repair of rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RRDs).
Methods :
A retrospective cohort study was conducted for patients who underwent surgical repair of RRDs at Boston Medical Center between October 2013 to September 2021. Surgical repairs included any combination of the following: laser retinopexy, pneumatic retinopexy, cryotherapy, scleral buckle, and pars plana vitrectomy. Patients were excluded if they had previous RRD repair. Main outcome was the single surgery success rate for primary RRD repair, defined as anatomical reattachment without the presence of tamponade agents, between black and non-black patients. Secondary outcomes include whether preoperative anatomical or socioeconomic factors differ between black patients and non-black patients.
Results :
A total of 231 patients were identified. Patients were characterized as black (n=85) and non-black (n=146) based on self-reported race. Black race was not associated with worse single surgery success after primary RRD repair (p=0.437) compared to non-black race, and overall had the same final surgery success rate after re-operation (p=0.749). Both groups had similar mean age, distribution amongst sexes, and mean household income. Black patients had no difference in their preoperative visual acuity, intraocular pressure, history of myopia, history of prior cataract surgery, and history of trauma as non-black patients. There was no difference in the location of retinal breaks, number of breaks, number of quadrants detached, the rate of macula-off detachments, nor the presence of proliferative vitreoretinopathy, posterior vitreous detachments, vitreous hemorrhage, choroidal detachments, retinoschisis, or lattice degeneration.
Conclusions :
Black race was not associated with primary surgical failure after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair. Black patients had similar preoperative baseline characteristics as non-black patients. In contrast to prior studies, our study showed that black race is not an independent risk factor for poor surgical outcomes of RRD repairs if baseline demographic and socioeconomic factors are similar.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.