Ophthalmic Screening in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Prospective Cohort Study

Postmortem pathological examinations, animal studies, and anecdotal reports suggest that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could potentially affect intraocular tissue. However, published evidence is scarce and conflicting. In our study, we screened 100 eyes of 50 patients hospitalized for COVID-19...

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Published inJournal of clinical medicine Vol. 10; no. 5; p. 896
Main Authors Papazoglou, Anthia, Conen, Anna, Haubitz, Sebastian, Tschopp, Markus, Guignard, Viviane J, Menke, Marcel N, Enz, Tim J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 24.02.2021
MDPI
Subjects
Clinical medicine
Cohort analysis
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Diabetic retinopathy
Disease transmission
Foreign bodies
Hospitals
Infections
Laboratories
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Motility
Oxygen saturation
Pandemics
Patients
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Standard deviation
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
ocular involvement
retina
optic nerve
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Summary:Postmortem pathological examinations, animal studies, and anecdotal reports suggest that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could potentially affect intraocular tissue. However, published evidence is scarce and conflicting. In our study, we screened 100 eyes of 50 patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Relevant medical and ophthalmological history was assessed as well as symptoms, laboratory results, specific treatments, clinical course, and outcome. Ophthalmic exams including assessment of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), color perception, ocular motility, ophthalmoscopy as well as optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the macula and the optic disc was performed at hospital admission and 29 to 192 days later. Of the 50 patients included, 14 (28%) were female. Median age was 64.5 (range 29-90) years. COVID-19 severity was mild in 15 (30%), severe in 30 (60%), and critical in five cases (10%). At baseline, median BCVA was 0.1 (0-1.8) Logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution (LogMAR) and median IOP was 16 (8-22) mmHg. At follow-up, no relevant changes in BCVA and IOP were documented. No signs of active intraocular inflammation or optic nerve affection were found and OCT findings were widely stable during the observation period. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 does not regularly affect intraocular tissue.
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ISSN:2077-0383
2077-0383
DOI:10.3390/jcm10050896