Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (Jan 2021)

Changing patterns of posterior segment trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic: A regional analysis from the Bodhya Eye Consortium

  • Swapnil Parchand,
  • Pratik Shenoy,
  • Alankrita Muralidhar,
  • Gaurav Kohli,
  • Anil Gangwe,
  • Deepanshu Agrawal,
  • Abhishek Varshney,
  • Ruchi Mittal,
  • Indranil Saha,
  • Aishwarya Madharia,
  • Shalini Singh,
  • Alok Sen,
  • Hemant Trehan,
  • Manisha Agarwal

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_1395_21
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 69, no. 10
pp. 2828 – 2835

Abstract

Read online

Purpose: To assess changes in the presentation patterns of posterior segment trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic from six tertiary eye care institutes of North and Central India. Methods: A multicenter, hospital-based, retrospective comparative analysis of patients presenting with posterior segment trauma was done during the COVID-19 (Group A) (March 25, 2020 - September 30, 2020) period and the pre-COVID-19 (Group B) (March 25, 2019 - September 30, 2019) period. Results: A total of 405 patients were diagnosed with posterior segment trauma (Group A: 206, Group B: 199). The time interval between onset of trauma and presentation was higher in Group A (16.59 ± 29.87 days) as compared to Group B (9.41 ± 19.19 days) (P = 0.004). A majority of patients in Group A had a history of prior consultation before presentation (P = 0.049). In Group A, 120 (58.2%) patients sustained ocular trauma at home as compared to 80 (40.2%) patients in Group B (P < 0.0001). Patients presenting with light perception were significantly more in Group A (43.7%) as compared to Group B (30.2%) (P = 0.004). In Group B, 37.6% patients had presenting visual acuity of counting finger or better as compared to 27.6% patients in Group A (P = 0.07). Patients in Group A had a significantly higher proportion of post-traumatic endophthalmitis with delayed presentation (P = 0.011) and retinal detachment (P = 0.041). Patients undergoing surgery for foreign-body removal were significantly fewer in Group A (P = 0.05). Conclusion: Although the number of patients presenting with posterior segment trauma was comparable in Groups A and B, a greater number of patients sustained home injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic. A majority of these patients had delayed presentation with poor presenting visual acuity and a higher tendency of retinal detachment.

Keywords