Retinal vascular occlusion risks during the COVID-19 pandemic and after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been reported to affect vascular networks including the eye. However, evidence on the causal relationship between COVID-19 infection and retinal vascular occlusions remains limited. This study aimed to determine the change in retinal vascular occlusion incidence during COVID-19 era and whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection induces retinal vascular occlusion. Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and retinal artery occlusion (RAO) incidences during 2018–2019 and 2020–July 2021 were compared, those in confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients diagnosed from 2020 to January 2021 were calculated, and those in COVID-19 patients during 180 days prior and 180 days after diagnosis were assessed. Additionally, the standardized incidence ratio of RVOs in COVID-19 patients was analyzed. Incidence rates per 100,000 people/year of RVO during 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 was 102.0 and 98.8, respectively. RAO incidence rates during 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 were 11.7 and 12.0, respectively. In both confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients, the incidence of RVO and RAO did not change significantly from 180 days before to after diagnosis in the adjusted model. RVO incidence slightly decreased while RAO incidence increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 infection did not significantly increase RVO or RAO incidence.

Personalized Management of Malignant and Non-Malignant Ectopic Mediastinal Thyroid: A Proposed 10-Item Algorithm Approach

“…As mentioned, a single pediatric case was found [68], but generally, the connection between the endocrine disruptors in terms of environmental factors (such as the geographic influence, the air pollutions, etc.) or internal factors like infectious conditions (as recently shown by the COVID-19 pandemic) or autoimmune (namely, endocrine and non-endocrine autoimmunity) issues should be studied in relationship with the developmental conditions, specifically, the ectopic thyroid (either acting during pregnancy or early during childhood); yet this represents a future topic to be studied [221][222][223][224][225][226]. Further on, the exact impact on the overall thyroid cancer-associated burden with respect to ectopic thyroid-related malignancy represents an open issue according to the current level of statistical evidence; we expect a future expansion amid increased awareness and access to advanced imagery…”