Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37779785›Full record

ArticleCureus2023

Prevalence and Visual Consequences of Non-adherent Patients Receiving Anti-vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Injections at King Fahad Specialist Hospital (KFSH), Qassim Region.

Abdulmajeed D Alharbi, Noura I Alotayk, Abdulmajeed A Alaboudi, Abdulrahman Y Alammar, Mohammad I Aldekhail, Meshari A Alharbi, Thekra A Alsamel, Muhannad A Aljutayli, Ayman M Aljarbou, Osama M Aljameeli

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cureus, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 43% 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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Nonadherence to anti-VEGF intravitreal injections in patients with diabetic macular edema : The names of the authors.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

10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Abdulmajeed D AlharbiDepartment of Ophthalmology, Qassim University, Qassim, SAU.
Noura I AlotaykCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
Abdulmajeed A AlaboudiDepartment of Ophthalmology, King Fahad Specialist Hospital (KFSH), Buraydah, SAU.
Abdulrahman Y AlammarDepartment of Ophthalmology, King Fahad Specialist Hospital (KFSH), Buraydah, SAU.
Mohammad I AldekhailCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
Meshari A AlharbiCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
Thekra A AlsamelCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
Muhannad A AljutayliCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
Ayman M AljarbouCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
Osama M AljameeliCollege of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, SAU.
King Fahad Specialist Hospital · SAQassim University · SABuraydah Colleges · SA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAnti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injection treatment is a widely utilized therapy for various retinal diseases, including diabetic macular edema (DME). Therefore, the importance of compliance and follow-up should be discussed with the patient. There have been no studies conducted in the Qassim region to estimate the prevalence of patients missing their anti-VEGF appointments. To fulfill this need, we conducted this study to evaluate the compliance rate of patients treated with anti-VEGF injections for DME as well as to determine the visual consequences of the delay in anti-VEGF treatment in the Qassim region. METHODOLOGY: This observational retrospective cohort study was conducted at King Fahad Specialist Hospital (KFSH) in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. We extracted all file numbers of patients who were using intravitreal anti-VEGF injections to treat DME. The data were managed and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

resultsIn the current study, we were able to collect data from 198 patients who received anti-VEGF treatment in the hospital. Among the participants, 57.6% were male, with a mean age of 61.7 years old (standard deviation (SD) = 10.23). Among the patients, we found that the rate of non-adherence to the anti-VEGF injection was 54.5%, and those patients delayed their scheduled doses for more than 56 days. In 47.5% of the patients, delaying or stopping their appointments had no known reason; however, blepharitis was the main reason for delaying or stopping the dose in 27.7% of the patients, followed by endophthalmitis in 18.7% of the patients. There is no significant difference between before and after stopping the treatment, considering visual acuity (VA) or optical coherence tomography (OCT). However, regarding the disease progression, we found that 15 out of the 30 patients had worsened in the OCT after they missed their injections (mean increase in the VA was 6.069 (SD = 97.45), t = -0.278, P = 0.783, and decrease in the OCT was -14.9667 (SD = 133.87, P = 0.454).

conclusionThere is a high rate of patients who missed their appointments for an anti-VEGF injection. This resulted in the worsening of OCT in half of the 30 patients who were enrolled in the visual consequences study, which had a negative impact on treatment and disease progression.

Indexed as

anti-vegf injectiondmemissed appointmentretinal diseasesvisual consequences

Identifiers

PMID37779785
PMCPMC10538945
OpenAlexW4386241720

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.