Epidemiology of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in commercially insured myopes in the United States

Myopia is a known risk factor for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Given global trends of increasing myopia, we aimed to determine the absolute risk (incidence rate) of RRD in non-myopes, myopes and high myopes in the United States over ten years. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 85,476,781 commercially insured patients enrolled in the Merative™ Marketscan^® Research Database. The incidence rate of RRD in phakic patients in the United States was 39-fold higher in high myopes than non-myopes (868.83 per 100,000 person-years versus 22.44 per 100,000 person-years) and three-fold higher in myopes than non-myopes (67.51 per 100,000 person-years versus 22.44 per 100,000 person-years). The incidence rate was significantly higher in males in each category (P < 0.01). Combined, the incidence rate of RRD in phakic patients in the United States from 2007 to 2016 was 25.27 RRDs per 100,000 person-years, a rate higher than those in prior published studies in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The absolute risk of myopia and high myopia increased from 2007 to 2016. The risk of RRD in phakic high myopes rose with increasing age. Notably, the magnitude of increased risk of RRD in myopes varied substantially according to the minimum follow-up period in our models and should be accounted for when interpreting data analyses.