Ocular related emergencies in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, a multicenter study

BMC Ophthalmology

Daniel Bordonaba-Bosque¹  Marina Dotti-Boada²  Jordi Izquierdo-Serra²  Pilar Pérez-García³  Pilar Peña-Urbina³  Ana López-Montero⁴  Carmen A. Porcar-Plana⁵  Martín Puzo⁶  Francisco de Asís Bartol-Puyal⁶  Luis E. Pablo⁶  Jorge Sánchez-Monroy⁶  Pilar Calvo⁶ 

[1] Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (IACS);Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Clinic;Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos;Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Clínico Universitario;Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Virgen de los Lirios;Ophthalmology Department, Miguel Servet University Hospital;

关键词: COVID-19;    Emergency department;    Epidemiology;    Ophthalmological emergencies;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12886-021-02169-x

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Purpose To evaluate ophthalmological emergencies (OE) during the COVID-19 pandemic comparing them with the same period of the previous year. Methods Retrospective observational study of all OE visits in four tertiary hospitals in Spain comparing data from March 16th to April 30th, 2020 (COVID-19 period) and the same period of 2019 (pre-COVID-19 period). Severity of the conditions was assessed following Channa et al. publication. Data on demographics, diagnosis and treatments were collected from Electronic Medical Records. Results During lockdown, OE significantly declined by 75.18%, from 7,730 registered in the pre-COVID-19 period to 1,928 attended during the COVID-19 period (p < 0.001). In 2019, 23.86% of visits were classified as emergent, 59.50% as non-emergent, and 16.65% could not be determined. In 2020, the percentage of emergent visits increased up to 29.77%, non-emergent visits significantly decreased to 52.92% (p < 0.001), and 17.31% of the visits were classified as “could not determine”. During the pandemic, people aged between 45 and 65 years old represented the largest attending group (37.89%), compared to 2019, where patients over 65 years were the majority (39.80%). In 2019, most frequent diagnosis was unspecified acute conjunctivitis (11.59%), followed by vitreous degeneration (6.47%), and punctate keratitis (5.86%). During the COVID-19 period, vitreous degeneration was the first cause for consultation (9.28%), followed by unspecified acute conjunctivitis (5.63%) and punctate keratitis (5.85%). Conclusions OE visits dropped significantly during the pandemic in Spain (75.18%), although more than half were classified as non-urgent conditions, indicating a lack of understanding of the really emergent ocular pathologies among population.

【 授权许可】

Unknown