Incidence and risk factors of perioperative suprachoroidal hemorrhage: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Suprachoroidal hemorrhage (SCH) is a potentially visually devastating complication of intraocular surgery, but estimates of perioperative SCH incidence vary. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of perioperative SCH incidence among population-based studies published between 1990 and 2023. Thirty-five studies collectively reported 1657 cases of perioperative SCH from a population of 3,028,911 surgeries. The estimated incidence of SCH was 0.12 % (95 % CI, 0.10-0.14 %), or about 1 in every 800 surgeries. The estimated incidence of perioperative massive SCH was 0.06 % (95 % CI, 0.04-0.08 %). In multivariable meta-regression, greater SCH incidence was significantly associated with smaller study population size, comparative study design, multicenter study setting, and intraoperative or delayed SCH timing (vs intraoperative alone), while lower SCH incidence was significantly associated with vitreoretinal or mixed surgery type (vs. cataract) (all P < 0.05). Study year was not a significant predictor of SCH incidence, suggesting that the incidence of SCH has not decreased over the past 3 decades despite improvements in surgical technologies and techniques. Given the rarity of SCH, and the strong effect of study population size on reported SCH incidence rates, future studies of SCH incidence should include a minimum population size of at least 1000 surgeries to obtain an accurate estimate of SCH incidence.