Does SARS-CoV-2 infection cause persistent ocular symptoms?: A cross-sectional study after the lifting of lockdown in Chongqing, China

Abstract

To confirm whether ocular symptoms and complaints related to the COVID-19 infection persist after recovery. A cross-sectional study was conducted on people who came to the healthcare center for regular physical examinations when the lockdown lifted for nearly 1 month. Ophthalmologists performed comprehensive ocular examinations. The infection history of COVID-19 was identified by a self-reported reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) test of a nasopharyngeal swab sample for SARS-CoV-2 or a novel coronavirus antigen test with self-reported typical infection symptoms. Demographic data was collected from their healthcare reports. Ocular history and ocular symptoms were collected through face-to-face interviewing. Of a total of 308 participants, 264 (85.7%) reported COVID-19 infection; 73 (27.65%) of infected persons complained of various ocular symptoms during or after infection; and only 15 (5.68%) persons reported ocular symptoms after recovery. Infection significantly increased the complaints of red eye and eye pain compared to the time before knockdown. There were no significant differences between infections and noninfectious infections in various ocular examinations at the time of examination. The duration between the day of infection onset and examination day was unrelated to all ocular examinations. COVID-19 infection can lead to some ocular symptoms, especially conjunctival congestion and ocular pain in the infective stage, but may not cause persistent ocular symptoms in about 1 month after recovery. The results of this study may help relieve public concerns about coronavirus infection in the eyes. However, more studies on various coronavirus infections, with large sample sizes, are warranted in multi-center and community-based populations.