Abstract Background The incidence of cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR) in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients may be increasing due to improved long-term survival post-transplant. However, the epidemiology of CMVR after SOT is not well described. We therefore aimed to determine the incidence of CMVR and identify risk factors for its development post-SOT. Methods Case-control study at a 1:4 ratio between 01/01/2012 and 03/31/2024. Cases were SOT recipients at 1 of 2 British Columbia transplant centres diagnosed with CMVR clinically or through ocular fluid viral PCR. Controls were matched on transplant organ, year, and centre. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed using conditional logistic regression models. Results Out of 5877 SOT recipients followed during the study period, there were 16 CMVR cases with an incidence rate of 5.3 per 10,000 person-years. Fourteen eligible cases of CMVR were matched to 56 controls. Cases were older than controls (median age 60.9 versus 42.6 years) and more likely to have diabetes mellitus (9 64.3% versus 9 16.4%), chronic heart disease (4 28.6% versus 4 7.3%) and CMV DNAemia any time post-SOT (12 85.7% versus 19 35.2%). Most received kidney transplants (50.0%), and the median time to CMVR was 3.4 years. After adjusting for age at transplant, diabetes mellitus, chronic heart disease, CMV DNAemia, and significant lymphopenia, only diabetes mellitus was associated with an increased odds of CMVR (odds ratio 16.5 95% confidence interval, 1.12-243.8). Conclusions CMVR is a rare and late complication post-SOT. Diabetes mellitus was independently associated with increased odds of CMVR post-SOT.
Bharaj et al. (Thu,) studied this question.