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Published on: September 11, 2013
COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy and Its Association With Altered Presentation of Primary Rhegmatogenous Retinal
Rusdeep Mundae1, Sushant Wagley1, Edwin H Ryan1
1From the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Neurosciences, University of Minnesota Medical School (R.M., E.H.R., D.W.P., P.H.T.), and VitreoRetinal Surgery, PLLC (S.W., E.H.R., D.W.P., R.A.M., P.H.T.), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Purpose:
Evaluate factors associated with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy and clinical trends in primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RRDs) during the first year of vaccine availability.
Design:
Single-center, clinical cohort study.
Methods:
Consecutive patients from December 14, 2020, to December 12, 2021, presenting vaccinated (Prior-), subsequently vaccinated (Later-), or remaining unvaccinated (Never-Vax). Primary outcome was proportion with macula-off (mac-off) RRD. Secondary outcomes included logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), primary proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), proportion lost to follow-up, and distance traveled.
Results:
1047 patients were divided into 391 Prior-, 252 Later-, and 404 Never-Vax cohorts. Significantly greater proportions of Later- and Never-Vax cohorts presented with mac-off RRDs (Prior-Vax = 44.5%; Later-Vax = 54%, P < .0001; Never-Vax = 57.9%, P < .0001) and primary PVR (Prior-Vax = 4.3%; Later-Vax = 13.6%, P < .0001; Never-Vax = 17.1%, P < .0001) compared to Prior-Vax cohort. Significantly greater proportion of Never-Vax cohort (7.7%, P < .0001) were lost to follow-up compared to Prior- (2.3%) and Later-Vax (2.2%) cohorts. Never-Vax cohort (median = 35 miles) traveled farther compared to Prior- (median = 22.3 miles; P < .0001) and Later-Vax cohorts (25.45 miles; P = .0038). Prior-Vax cohort had significantly better (P < .05) initial (median = 0.30 logMAR) and final (0.18 logMAR) BCVA compared to Later- (Initial: 0.54 logMAR; Final: 0.30 logMAR) and Never-Vax (Initial: 0.70 logMAR; Final: 0.40 logMAR) cohorts.
Conclusions:
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is associated with worse clinical presentation and outcomes for primary RRD.
