Association of Daily Wear of Eyeglasses With Susceptibility to Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection

Abstract

oronavirus disease 2019 , the pathogen of which is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly infectious disease that broke out in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has spread to more than 200 countries. 1 COVID-19 has been proven to be transmitted mainly through droplets and contact. 2 The eye is also considered an important route of infection.According to reports published in recent years, the prevalence of myopia in China is now more than 80% of the population. Wearing of eyeglasses is common among Chinese individuals of all ages. 3 However, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in December 2019, we observed that few patients with eyeglasses were admitted in the hospital ward. There-fore, we collected information on the wearing of eyeglasses from all inpatients with COVID-19 as part of their medical history and used the data to examine the association between wearing eyeglasses and COVID-19 infection. MethodsThis cohort study was approved by the ethics committee of Suizhou Zengdu Hospital, Suizhou, China, and followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline. Patients signed written informed consent and were not provided with any IMPORTANCE The proportion of daily wearers of eyeglasses among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is small, and the association between daily wear of eyeglasses and COVID-19 susceptibility has not been reported.OBJECTIVE To study the association between the daily wearing of eyeglasses and the susceptibility to COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis cohort study enrolled all inpatients with COVID-19 in Suizhou Zengdu Hospital, Suizhou, China, a designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment in the area, from January 27 to March 13, 2020. COVID-19 was diagnosed according to the fifth edition of Chinese COVID-19 diagnostic guidelines. The proportion of persons with myopia who wore eyeglasses in Hubei province was based on data from a previous study.EXPOSURES Daily wearing of eyeglasses for more than 8 hours. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe main outcomes were the proportions of daily wearers of eyeglasses among patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and among the local population. Data on exposure history, clinical symptoms, underlying diseases, duration of wearing glasses, and myopia status and the proportion of people with myopia who wore eyeglasses in Hubei province were collected. People who wore glasses for more than 8 hours a day were defined as long-term wearers.RESULTS A total of 276 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled. Of these, 155 (56.2%) were male, and the median age was 51 (interquartile range, 41-58) years. All those who wore glasses for more than 8 hours a day had myopia and included 16 of 276 patients (5.8%; 95% CI, 3.04%-8.55%). The proportion of people with myopia in Hubei province, based on a previous study, was 31.5%, which was much higher than the proportion of patients with COVID-19 who had myopia in this sample. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this ...

Experimental Efficacy of the Face Shield and the Mask against Emitted and Potentially Received Particles

“…This route is rarely studied and the eye protection could be a determinant in community settings [ 11 , 43 ]. A study performed in Hubei hospital found that only 5.8% of COVID-19 patients (16 of 276 patients) wore glasses compared to an estimated 31.5% of the general population, suggesting that eye protection, eyeglasses or face shields could be useful against COVID-19 [ 43 ]. The ocular mucosa and the nasopharynx are connected by the nasolacrimal duct.…”

Eyes on coronavirus

“…Furthermore, frequent hand-eye contact was regarded as the risk factor for conjunctival congestion in this study. In a cohort study conducted by Zeng et al ( Zeng et al, 2020b ), among 276 patients with COVID-19, 16 (5.8%) of them were myopia and wore spectacles more than 8 h per day. When compared with the peer prevalence of myopia in Hubei province (31.5%), the proportion of myopia patients with COVID-19 was smaller than that in general population.…”

COVID-19 and the eye: a review

“…Case report [11] 1 China 11. Cohort study [12] 276 China 12. Review [13] -Singapore 13. Cross-sectional study [14] 535 China 14. Review [15] -Singapore 15. Review [16] -USA 16.…”

“…The lack of ocular protection in a setting with COVID-19 infected patients might allow the virus to infect the body through the conjunctival epithelium [5]. In a Cohort of 276 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, they found that daily wearers eyeglasses may be less likely to be infected compared to local population (5.8% vs 31.5%) [12]. It has been reported that the novel SARS-CoV-2 has a similar receptor-binding-motif as SARS-CoV, allowing it to infect host cells via the angiotensin-converting-enzyme-2 (ACE2).…”