Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair less common in women, underrepresented groups
NEW ORLEANS — Women and racial/ethnic minorities were less likely to receive rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair compared with men and white patients, according to a presentation at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
“Sex and race/ethnicity health disparities have been previously identified in many fields, but data for retinal detachments is limited,” Amee Azad, MD, MS, and colleagues wrote. “The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) repair by race/ethnicity and sex.”
The retrospective cross-sectional study assessed 10,339 eligible cases of incident RRD between 2003 and 2019, of which 44% were women and 72% were white.
In the full cohort of 10,026 subjects, women had reduced odds of receiving RRD repair within 30 days of diagnosis (P < .001). Asian (P = .005), Black (P = .006) and Hispanic (P < .001) patients also had lower repair odds.
While the data were taken from a nationally representative database with multiple sensitivity models to account for miscoding, the database did not include uninsured patients, a cohort in which the number of patients unable to receive RRD care is likely increased.
“While the reason for these differences is likely multifaceted, health disparities and delays in care are known to have devastating implications on patient outcomes and warrant further investigation,” Azad and colleagues wrote.
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Azad AD, et al. Race, ethnicity and sex differences in retinal detachment repairs: A U.S. claims-based analysis. Presented at: American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting; Nov. 12-15, 2021; New Orleans.
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