{"doi":"10.2147/opth.s296345","title":"Short-Term Effects of COVID-19-Related Deferral of Intravitreal Injection Visits","abstract":"PURPOSE: To determine secondary effects of the mandated COVID-19 pandemic closure period for elective treatment on non-elective, injection-based retina care and outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of a single-provider outpatient clinic across multiple satellites, consecutive patients returning for intravitreal injections (IVIs) of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor or corticosteroids were identified as \"delayed\" or \"undelayed\" during a six-week study interval during the COVID-19 pandemic that closely following a mandated period of prohibited elective encounters. A \"delayed\" encounter was defined as having a follow-up interval exceeding 33% of the recommended cycle. Patients seen for IVIs during the corresponding six-week interval a year previously were identified for study as pre-COVID-19 controls. Main outcome measures included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) assessment based on findings of intraretinal or subretinal fluid consistent with new or recurrent neovascular events. RESULTS: The study included 183 eyes of 144 patients who underwent IVI-based care from June 18, 2020, through August 7, 2020, compared to 193 eyes of 154 patients injected during the corresponding interval 1 year before. There were 62 eyes of 46 patients seen in the study period later than scheduled (among 144 patients of 183 eyes in total), which represented a larger proportion of delayed patients compared to the previous year (31.9% vs. 14.9%, p<0.0005). Considering the patterns from the control group, the attributed delay due to COVID-19 was 15.0% of patients. The delayed return eyes had a greater decline in BCVA (3 letters), higher rates of worsened OCT results (48%), and prompted reduction in previously prescribed injection intervals (p<0.02). CONCLUSION: The unintended consequence of delayed care of patients on established care regimens should be anticipated, and mitigate strategies considered if similar restrictions are mandated in the future.","journal":"Clinical ophthalmology","year":2021,"id":171420,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":26,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9534,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":706896,"name":"Lediana Goduni","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":338962,"name":"William E. Smiddy","orcid":"0000-0001-6864-7669","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":706118,"name":"Noy Ashkenazy","orcid":"0000-0001-7497-4439","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":14,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:46:33.067299Z","pmid":"33568895","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}