The Incidence, Time to Development, and Risk Factors for Fellow Eye Retinal Vein Occlusions

Abstract

Background and Objective: Little is known about factors affecting risk or time to development of fellow eye retinal vein occlusion (RVO). The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence and risk factors for fellow eye RVO. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective case-control study comparing unilateral and fellow eye RVO patients. This study was exempt by the Cleveland Clinic Institutional Review Board. Results: Out of 1,083 patients, fellow eye RVO had a cumulative incidence of 3.6% (95% CI 2.61, 4.94) with a median time to development of 18 months (95% CI 6.0, 28.0). Fellow eye disease was associated with multiple characteristics including chronic kidney disease (odds ratio [OR] 3.78, 95% CI 1.89 to 7.55) and diabetic retinopathy (3.18, 1.57 to 6.44). Conclusion: While fellow eye RVO is relatively rare, it typically occurs within the first few years following initial diagnosis. Multiple characteristics were associated with fellow eye disease and time to onset. [ Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina 2023;54:471–476.]