THE EFFECTS OF IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE THERAPY FOR IMMUNE-MEDIATED INFLAMMATORY DISEASE ON THE RISK OF AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of immunosuppressive therapy on the development and progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients with an immune-mediated inflammatory disease. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. Data were obtained from TriNetX, a global database of electronic medical records. The analysis used the largest network in TriNetX, comprised of 171,583,261 patients from 18 countries. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to estimate the probability of predefined AMD subcategories between patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disease who were prescribed an immunosuppressants and patients who were not. Results: After 1:1 propensity score matching, equal-sized cohorts of patients in each group were generated for predefined IMIDs. We found that AMD was more prevalent in patients who received an immunosuppressant for systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn disease, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, Sjögren syndrome, giant cell arteritis, and all IMIDs combined. Conclusion: The use of immunosuppressants in patients with some IMIDs appears to be associated with an increased risk of AMD. Further research is warranted to fully understand the complex relationship between immunosuppressive therapy and AMD.