A Spanish study of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) found the rate of visual decline increased significantly and irreversibly during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Analysing the effects of a three-month treatment suspension in 242 patients (270 eyes) and evaluating them 12 months later, investigators found even after 12 months of regular follow-up and treatment, the rate of visual decline was still higher than before the Covid outbreak (3.1 vs. 1.6 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters/year, p< 0.01).
At 12 months, despite a lower percentage of OCT images showing exudative disease than before the lockdown period (51% vs. 65.3%, p=0.0017), the functional consequences did not match these results. Since visual acuity remained lower than pre-pandemic, researchers concluded suspending anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy cannot be totally reversed after 12 months of treatment.
The study is published by JCM.
