Estimated Five-year Risk of Systemic Cardiovascular Events With Anti-VEGF Injections in Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVE

To assess 5-year risk for stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and mortality in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) receiving anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections compared to patients with geographic atrophy (GA).

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted involving 2,923 patients aged ≥ 50 years, diagnosed with nAMD or GA prior to 2019. There were two cohorts: those receiving anti-VEGF for nAMD and those with GA. A 1:1 greedy matching algorithm matched demographics, comorbidities, and medications. Risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for primary outcomes.

RESULTS

After matching, there were 1,065 patients in each cohort. No significant differences were observed in risks for ischemic stroke (RR = 1.24, 95% CI [0.91, 1.70]), hemorrhagic stroke (RR = 0.95, [0.52, 1.92]), MI (RR = 0.98, [0.70, 1.39]), or mortality (RR = 1.00, [0.83, 1.19]).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest anti-VEGF therapy for nAMD does not increase the risk of stroke, MI, or mortality compared to patients with GA.