Abstract
Purpose :
We seek to evaluate how disparities in age, gender, and ethnicity affect the presentation and management of rhegmatogenous detachments in a single institution.
Methods :
This was a retrospective case series of adult eyes undergoing rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair from 2012-2019. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to characterize basic demographic information with respect to factors such as severity of detachment, time to presentation, surgical approach, follow up, and visual outcome.
Results :
A total of 378 eyes were included comprising 130 (34.4%) female and 247 (65.3%) male patients with an mean age of 57.6+14.9 years. The cohort comprised 303 (80.2%) Caucasian, 37 (9.8%) African American, 4 (1.1%) Hispanic, 21 (5.6%) Asian, and 13 (3.4%) unknown ethnicities. Younger mean age of presentation was observed among African American (p=0.00) and Hispanic (p=0.00) eyes compared to Caucasian eyes. Mean pre-operative visual acuity differed among ethnic groups overall (p=0.00) with a trend towards higher pre-operative mean logMAR visual acuity (worse vision) in African American eyes compared to Caucasians (p=0.44). There were no differences with respect to pre-operative macular involvement or timing of surgical repair among gender or ethnic groups (p>0.05). Operative procedures included vitrectomy (n=209), scleral buckle (n=50), pneumatic retinopexy (n=93), and combined vitrectomy/scleral buckle (n=22). There were no significant differences in repair procedure among demographic groups, but operative case length for the vitrectomy and scleral buckle cases was longer in African American eyes compared to Caucasian eyes by a mean of 32.7+11.0 minutes (p=0.017). Post-op mean logMAR visual acuity was worse in Black (p=0.04), Asian (p<0.01), and un-identified (0=0.01) eyes compared to Caucasian eyes. The mean observed post-operative follow up was widely variable 24.6+24.6 months and not significantly different with respect to age, sex, or ethnicity.
Conclusions :
Ethnic variations account for differences in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment presentation, operative case length, and post-operative visual acuity following repair. Additional socioeconomic research is needed to identify high risk patient characteristics.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.