Publication date: Jul 28, 2025
Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) incidence among adults under age 50 years before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was evaluated to clarify whether COVID-19 infection increases RVO risk. This was a retrospective study of adult patients under age 50 years diagnosed with RVO between 2016 and 2023. The study included 268 patients with RVO. Cases increased from 111 (41%) pre-pandemic (2016 to 2019) to 157 (59%) post-pandemic (2020 to 2023). Incidence rose from 2. 7% to 4. 2% of retina clinic diagnoses (P = 0. 006). Age at diagnosis did not differ (median 40. 4 vs 39. 6 years, P > 0. 05). The youngest tertile (18 to 29 years) trended towards a greater proportion of cases post-pandemic (19. 6% vs 10. 6%, P = 0. 20), while the oldest tertile (39 to 49 years) trended towards a smaller proportion (48. 4% vs 56. 1%, P = 0. 42). An increase in RVO incidence during COVID-19 was observed, with a trend towards younger age groups.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Coronavirus | Adults |
| Lasers | Covid |
| Pandemic | Incidence |
| Youngest | Increasing |
| Occlusion | |
| Pandemic | |
| Post | |
| Proportion | |
| Retina | |
| Retinal | |
| Rvo | |
| Tertile | |
| Trended | |
| Vein | |
| Years |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | Retinal Vein Occlusion |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 Pandemic |
| disease | MESH | infection |
| disease | MESH | Long Covid |