Retinal Detachment Risk After Intravitreal Injection Varies by Demographic

While generally safe, intravitreal injections can cause retinal breaks or detachments, often causing symptoms like floaters, light flashes or a curtain-like shadows in patients’ vision. Photo: Rami Aboumourad, OD. Click image to enlarge. Cleveland Clinic researchers presented data at the ARVO 2026 annual conference in Denver on rates of and risk factors for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) after intravitreal injection.They analyzed 10 years of data using the TriNetX database, then identified patients who underwent intravitreal injection and developed RRD within 28 days of the injection using ICD-10 coding data.The study evaluated overall RRD prevalence, as well as among patients with diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In addition, the researchers stratified data by sex, race, ethnicity and age.The overall prevalence of RRD after intravitreal injection was 0.66%, with similar rates in patients with DR at 0.64%, while slightly higher prevalences were observed in patients with RVO (0.77%) and nAMD (0.75%). Patients with RVO had an odds ratio of 1.16 for RRD, while those with wet AMD had an odds ratio of 1.13.Women experienced higher rates of RRD after injection than men, with prevalences of 0.81% and 0.54%, respectively. Their odds ratio was 1.51 compared with men.Among racial groups, Asian patients had the highest prevalence at 0.80%, followed by white patients at 0.71% and Black patients at 0.52%. Researchers found a statistically significant difference between white and Black patients, with the latter showing lower odds of RRD after injection.The youngest patients out of the selected cohort demonstrated the greatest risk. Patients ages 10 to 19 had an RRD prevalence of 31.25%, while prevalence remained below 1% in all age groups older than 50.The authors concluded that although intravitreal injections are generally considered safe, continued monitoring for retinal detachment remains important because of the potential for severe vision loss.Original abstract ©2026 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Click here for the source. Kalra M, Jeong H, Talcott K. Prevalence and demographic analysis of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment after intravitreal injection. May 7, 2026. ARVO 2026 annual meeting. This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.