Interventions to reduce loss to follow up in common retinal pathology: A systematic review.

PURPOSE: Loss to follow-up or fragmented follow-up episodes (LTFU) may contribute to suboptimal clinical outcomes, especially when comparing real world data to clinical trials. This systemic review gathers available evidence around interventions meant to decrease the LTFU in AMD, RVO, and DME patients.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

PubMed was queried using a literature search strategy and reviewed by the authors. Studies with interventions aimed at reducing lost to follow up were included.

RESULTS

Ten studies were extracted from 89 candidate publications.

DISCUSSION: Telephone interventions featuring assistance in scheduling in improving LTFU in urban, African American populations over 50 years old with diabetic retinopathy. The same interventions have shown promise in glaucoma, but remain understudied in AMD, RVO, and other geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic demographics.

CONCLUSION

No sole intervention with efficacy in improving LTFU has been developed. A standardized definition of LTFU, as well as testing interventions across broad age, geography, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic lines. Longitudinal data would also add credence to the efficacy of purported interventions.

OTHER: No sources of funding for this article.