June 2021
Volume 62, Issue 8
Open Access
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2021
Ocular Symptoms in COVID-19 infection: A Survey Study
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Shilpa Kodati
    National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • Matt McHarg
    National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • Yujuan Wang
    National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • Sonny Caplash
    University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
  • Mehmet Yakin
    National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • H Nida Sen
    National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships   Shilpa Kodati, None; Matt McHarg, None; Yujuan Wang, None; Sonny Caplash, None; Mehmet Yakin, None; H Nida Sen, None
  • Footnotes
    Support  NEI intramural research program
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science June 2021, Vol.62, 1968. doi:
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      Shilpa Kodati, Matt McHarg, Yujuan Wang, Sonny Caplash, Mehmet Yakin, H Nida Sen; Ocular Symptoms in COVID-19 infection: A Survey Study. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2021;62(8):1968.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose : Ocular findings have been reported in association with the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Despite these reports, less is known on the frequency, spectrum and duration of associated ocular symptoms and their onset in the disease course. The purpose of this study is to systematically characterize ocular symptoms in participants with COVID-19 infection.

Methods : An online Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) survey designed to characterize ocular symptoms was developed and the study information distributed to NIH employees who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-19.The survey was also advertised to the public through social media and patient recruitment mailing lists. All responses were anonymous, and participants were asked to consent to completing the survey, confirm a positive SARS-CoV PCR test and that they were 18 years of age or older. This study was approved as exempt by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of IRB Operations.

Results : Following exclusion of ineligible participants and incomplete responses, 181 (20.4% male and 79.0% female) complete survey responses were included for analysis including from hospitalized (9.9%) and non-hospitalized (90.1%) respondents as well NIH employees (27.1%). Ocular symptoms were reported by 77.9% of participants (mean number of ocular symptoms per participant: 2.19+/- 2.36). The most commonly reported ocular symptoms were light sensitivity 28.1%, itchy eyes (26.0%), tearing (25.4%), eye redness (24.9%), mucous discharge (20.1%), foreign body sensation (17.1%), and new onset floaters (15.4%). With the exception of itchy eyes, no significant differences in eye symptoms were found between age groups. The onset of ocular symptoms occurred mostly frequently at the same time as systemic symptoms (53.8%) compared to before (18.9%) and after systemic symptoms (27.3%). Notably, 10.6% of respondents with ocular symptoms sought medical attention by an eye care professional and 21.2% reported eye symptoms lasting ≥14 days.

Conclusions : Our results show that the majority of survey respondents experienced ocular symptoms though only a minority required ophthalmic examination and our study is likely biased towards respondents with eye symptoms. Consistent with other reports, ocular surface related symptoms were more common and vision affecting symptoms were rare. Further work is needed to identify the sequalae of ocular symptoms associated with SARS-COV-2.

This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.

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