Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31228332›Full record

ArticleActa ophthalmologica2019

Atrophy of the central neuroretina in patients treated for diabetic macular edema.

Sonja G Karst, Magdalena Schuster, Christoph Mitsch, Elias L Meyer, Michael Kundi, Christoph Scholda, Ursula M Schmidt-Erfurth

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Acta ophthalmologica, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Risk of excessive macular thinning in diabetic macular edema with ellipsoid zone disruption treated with anti-VEGF: 2-year real-world evidence.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2026
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  4. Comparable choroidal thickness between treated eyes and untreated fellow-eyes in patients with unilateral neovascular AMD: a paired-eyes comparative study.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Sonja G KarstDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8886-131X
Magdalena SchusterDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Christoph MitschDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Elias L MeyerSection for Medical Statistics, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics, and Intelligent Systems, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Michael KundiInstitute of Environmental Health, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Christoph ScholdaDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Ursula M Schmidt-ErfurthDepartment of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7788-7311
Medical University of Vienna · ATStatistics Austria · AT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo examine the prevalence of central retinal atrophy in patients treated for diabetic macular edema (DME) in a clinical setting.

methodsRetrospective data analysis of patients with DME, focusing on those who developed central retinal thinning after DME treatment at the Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University Vienna. Patient characteristics and clinical data including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), spectral domain optical coherence tomography and fluorescence angiography images were reviewed and DME treatment strategies analysed using descriptive statistics. The correlation between visual acuity and ocular, systemic or DME treatment factors was calculated using linear regression models and ancovas.

resultsA total of 6684 outpatient visits by 1437 patients with diabetes were analysed. Out of 149 patients, who had had a central subfield thickness (CST) below 200 μm, 32 (36 eyes) had previously been diagnosed with a centre involving DME with an average CST of 473 ± 103 μm and average visual acuity of 0.62 ± 0.44 logMAR at first presentation. At the time of central atrophy, 29 (81%) out of 36 eyes had a history of laser treatment, 11 (31%) a vitrectomy, 32 (88%) repeated intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; mean 5.3 ± 3.8) and 22 (61%) intravitreal corticosteroid injections (mean 2.5 ± 2.7). Visual function (0.67 ± 0.43 logMAR) at the time of atrophy was not significantly correlated to central retinal thickness (191 ± 7 μm) or any other ocular, systemic or treatment factors.

conclusionsOnly 4% of patients treated for DME developed central retinal thinning in our observation period. On average, our atrophy patients had higher CST and lower BCVA when they first presented with DME compared to the overall DME cohort, and they received a combination of intravitreal injections and laser for DME treatment. Central retinal atrophy might not be attributed to excessive use of intravitreally applied anti-VEGF or any other DME therapy alone.

Indexed as

Visual AcuityAtrophyDiabetic RetinopathyFemaleFluorescein AngiographyFollow-Up StudiesFundus OculiHumansMacula LuteaMacular EdemaMaleMiddle AgedRetinal Ganglion CellsRetrospective StudiesTomography, Optical Coherenceanti-VEGFdiabetic macular edemaintravitreal injectionoptical coherence tomographyretinal atrophy

Identifiers

PMID31228332
PMCPMC6900069
OpenAlexW2951017386

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.