Ocular Symptoms Assessment of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study
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Abstract
Objective: To assess the clinical manifestations of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection and the characteristics of ocular involvement.
Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, an online questionnaire was performed on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive confirmed COVID-19 patients who do not require supplemental oxygen therapy and are registered to the home isolation program or admitted to Thammasat University Hospital in Thailand from September to November 2022. The baseline ocular and systemic history was compared to that of the COVID-19 period, and vaccination history was collected. Binary and categorical response data were shown as a percentage and proportions. Quantitative data were presented as means and standard deviations. McNemar test was used to assess the COVID ocular symptoms during the infectious period. Odds Ratio with 95% confidence interval
was calculated to study the relationship between ocular severity symptoms and vaccination. P-value < .05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 168 COVID-19 patients (32.3% male and 67.7% female) were enrolled in the study and completed an online questionnaire. The mean age of the patients was 39.14 ± 12.7 years (ranging from 18 to 72 years). At the time of the study, only 40 patients (21.2%) were unvaccinated. Most of them presented with cough (n = 115, 67.6%), and acute viral syndrome symptoms (n = 115, 67.6%). The prevalence of COVID ocular involvement was estimated to be 20.6%. The most significant ocular manifestations, including eye discharge (n = 37, 19.6%), irritation (n = 31, 16.4%), epiphora (n = 30, 15.9%), and eye redness (n = 28, 14.8%), occurred within a week before COVID was detected. There were no correlations between ocular symptoms and comorbidities (P = .137), systemic symptoms (P = .133) or vaccination (P = .305).
Conclusion: Although most COVID patients had systemic symptoms, ocular involvement was only present in a minority and did not significantly affect ocular vision. We found no significant association between the presentation of ocular symptoms and comorbidities, systemic symptoms, or vaccination history in this study.
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