Ocular findings in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in an outbreak hospital

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the ocular findings observed in patients with COVID‐19 caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 and to present the relationship between ocular involvement and systemic findings and laboratory results. Material and Methods This cross‐sectional study was carried out between 1 May and 30 June 2020. The study included 359 patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 and assessed by clinical evaluation, nasopharyngeal polymerase chain reaction, and lung computed tomography. Results One hundred and ninety‐seven (54.9%) of the patients were male and 162 (45.1%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 58.5 years (20–91). Two hundred and ninety‐four (81.9%) patients were treated in the inpatient clinic and 65 (18.1%) patients were treated in the intensive care unit. Various ocular diseases were observed in 16 (4.5%) of the patients. While the rate of ocular disease was 12/294 (4.1%) in patients followed up in the inpatient clinic, this rate was 4/65 (6.2%) in intensive care patients. There was no systemic problem in one patient, in whom conjunctival hyperemia was the first and only reason for admission to the hospital. Four patients followed up in the inpatient clinic had conjunctivitis at the time of admission, and conjunctivitis occurred in three patients during hospitalization. Subconjunctival hemorrhage occurred in five patients and vitreous hemorrhage in one patient. Conclusion Ocular diseases are uncommon in COVID‐19 patients but may occur during the first period of the disease or during follow‐up. Ocular diseases may be the initial or only sign of COVID‐19 infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 and conjunctivitis: a meta-analysis

“…The majority of patients with viral conjunctivitis were male patients (Table 3). Other ocular manifestations have been documented, such as conjunctival hyperemia 25,29,31 and secretion, 25,30 conjunctival discharge, 29,31 eye rubbing, subconjunctival bleeding,…”

“…12,[20][21][22][26][27][28][30][31][32] The blinding of outcome assessment (DB) is low in 12 articles. 12,[20][21][22][24][25][26][27][28][30][31][32] The incomplete outcome data (Attrition Bias) (AB) is low in 19 articles. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][20][21][22][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Selective reporting (Reporting bias (RB) is 16 articles.…”

“…12,[20][21][22][24][25][26][27][28][30][31][32] The incomplete outcome data (Attrition Bias) (AB) is low in 19 articles. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][20][21][22][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Selective reporting (Reporting bias (RB) is 16 articles. [12][13][14][16][17][18]20,21,24,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] All other bias is low in all 20 articles [12][13][14][15]…”

Fundus evaluation in COVID-19 positives with non-severe disease

“…Known ocular manifestations include conjunctivitis,[ 14 ] conjunctival hyperemia, and cotton wool spots. [ 15 ] The virus is known to spread primarily through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Previous studies have reported the presence of the virus in tear samples of COVID patients suggesting tears can be a source of transmission of virus.…”

The effect of COVID-19 infection on retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell complex layer thicknesses

“…Original article preauricular lymph nodes, and watery discharge were found to be common ocular findings in patients with active COVID-19 [5][6][7]. To the best of our knowledge, there are few studies about the possible effects of SARS-Cov-2 virus infection on the posterior segment of the eye, in the literature [8][9][10].…”