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Efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab on diabetic macular oedema in an African population

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the short-term effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (avastin) injection on visual outcomes of patients with diabetic macular oedema.

Methods

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate 39 eyes of thirty-nine patients (mean age ± SD: 61.4 ± 15.0 years) that received intravitreal bevacizumab injection (1.25 mg in 0.05 ml) as treatment for diabetic macular oedema between January 2014 and July 2019 in Ghana. Data on visual acuity and central macular thickness before treatment and 6 weeks post-treatment were collected and analysed using paired t-test. Ordinary least squares linear regression analysis was also conducted to determine the relationship between improvement in visual acuity and central macular thickness after treatment and other predictor variables.

Results

The mean ± SD visual acuity (LogMAR-equivalent of Snellen) of patients with diabetic macular oedema significantly improved from 0.84 ± 0.58 LogMAR before treatment to 0.69 ± 0.58 LogMAR at 6 weeks post-treatment (mean difference: 0.15 ± 0.32 LogMAR; 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.25; p = 0.01). Mean macular thickness ± SD on the other hand, reduced significantly (p < 0.001) from 316.54 ± 75.35 μm before treatment to 275.54 ± 57.43 μm after treatment. While age and worse pre-treatment visual acuity predicted improvement in visual acuity after treatment, a higher central macular thickness before treatment predicted an improvement in central macular thickness after intravitreal bevacizumab injection.

Conclusion

Treatment with intravitreal bevacizumab injection produces short-term improvement in vision and reduction in central macular thickness in African patients with diabetic macular oedema.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the management Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Ghana.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Optometry and Vision Science, School of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

    Samuel Kyei, John Kwesi Assan, Ebenezer Zaabaar & Eric Obour Obeng

  2. Centre for Optometry and Vision Science, Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Ulster University, Coleraine, UK

    Frederick Afum Asare

  3. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Ebenezer Zaabaar

  4. Cell Biology and Human Anatomy Department, University of California, Davis, USA

    Frank Assiamah

  5. School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Kofi Asiedu

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  1. Samuel Kyei
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  2. Frederick Afum Asare
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  4. Ebenezer Zaabaar
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Contributions

SK conceptualized the research project. SK and EZ designed the research project. JKA, FA, and EOO carried out data collection. FAA analysed and interpreted the data. FAA, FA, and SK wrote the original draft. SK, FAA, JKA, EZ, FA, and KA wrote the reviews and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Samuel Kyei.

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Kyei, S., Asare, F.A., Assan, J.K. et al. Efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab on diabetic macular oedema in an African population. Ir J Med Sci 192, 2777–2783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-023-03348-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-023-03348-z

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