Intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy doesn’t hurt renal outcomes in patients with diabetic kidney disease

The use of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections in patients with diabetic kidney disease did not increase the risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or all all-cause mortality, according to a study.

According to the article, an estimated half of patients with type 2 diabetes and DKD have combined diabetic retinopathy (DR).

In this retrospective cohort study, patients receiving intravitreal anti-VEGF injections and patients not receiving injections were enrolled by 1:3 propensity score matching, adjusted for clinical and pathological baseline indicators. All patients receiving injections had DR compared with 50.9% of patients not receiving anti-VEGF therapy before matching.

“Our study provided data on long-term renal outcomes and all-cause mortality with [intravitreal anti-VEGF injections] use in patients with DKD, and the results suggested that the IVT use of [intravitreal anti-VEGF injections] did not result in an increased risk of patients developing ESRD and survival,” the authors wrote.

Reference
Xiao X, Zhang J, Ji Set al. Intravitreal vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors did not increase the risk of end-stage renal disease in patients with biopsy-proven diabetic kidney disease based on matched study. Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:1077047. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1077047. PMID: 36569300; PMCID: PMC9768017.