RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified by China on December 31, 2019, of a pneumonia outbreak severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus-19 virus infection in Wuhan. This outbreak was declared by the WHO from the Public Health Emergency of International Concern to formal declaration as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Because the public health measures like lockdown, the eye care delivery system was markedly impacted. The aim of this study was to find out if any pattern change of red eye cases among patients who attended eye accident and emergency (A and E) in a tertiary care hospital during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared to 2019 and 2018. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cohort retrospective study which included all patients who presented to eye A and E clinic with red eye from March 1 to July 31 in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Data were analyzed using statistical tools in the SPSS software. Furthermore, the clinical records of 578 inpatients with proven COVID-19 were reviewed for any red eye problem. RESULTS: Out of 7895 eye patients attended eye A and E clinic during March-July of 2018, 2019, and 2020, 1573 (19.9%) patients had red eye. Males were slightly dominant with 59%, and unilateral cases were the majority among them. The most common causes of red eye in 2018 and 2019 were injury, conjunctivitis, and keratitis; whereas in 2020, a clear dominance of injury and keratitis cases was found. Only 10 (2.03%) patients out of the 493 outpatients with red eye during the 5-month period in 2020 reported a prior contact to a COVID-19 positive case; of whom nine patients had conjunctivitis, and one had a right eye open globe injury. Of the 578 inpatients with proven COVID-19, only 1 (0.17%) patient had red eye with the diagnosis of conjunctivitis. CONCLUSION: There was relatively increased number of adults reporting with red eye in 2020. Eye injuries were the most common among all years, followed by conjunctivitis and keratitis. Ocular problems, however, might be a primary or secondary COVID-19 complaint and seem to be relatively uncommon in COVID-19 individuals.
RESUMEN
PURPOSE: To describe the epidemiology of ocular trauma in a tertiary hospital setting in Muscat, Oman. METHODS: Medical records of all cases of ocular trauma which presented to the Emergency Department at Al-Nahdha Hospital and were seen by the ophthalmology service from January 1, 2013 to June 30, 2013 (6 months) were reviewed to collect data on ocular trauma according to the World Eye Injury Registry initial reporting form which uses the Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology System. RESULTS: There were 27,951 patients seen at the Emergency Department and 611 of which were ocular trauma cases (cumulative incidence 2.2% [confidence interval 2.0-2.4]). The mean age of the patients was 23 years and males comprised the majority of the cases (72%). Thirty-two patients had bilateral injury giving a total of 643 eyes injured. More than half of all injuries were caused by either blunt or large sharp objects. The cornea was the most frequently injured tissue (49%), but most injuries were minor in nature. More than three quarters (77%) of all eyes had a visual acuity of 0.3 (LogMAR) or better on presentation. There were 35 eyes (6%) with open globe injuries (OGI) and three-quarters of them occurring in the manual laborers. CONCLUSION: Ocular trauma is a common presentation at Al-Nahdha Hospital. Although the majority of trauma cases were minor without any visual disability sequelae, OGI could have been prevented with better ocular protection in the workplace.
