The impact of COVID-19 on compliance to amblyopia treatment in a tertiary eye care center

Purpose: To investigate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID?19) outbreak on compliance to amblyopia therapy from the perspective of parents of amblyopic children. Methods: The participants for the qualitative study were enrolled from the medical records of a tertiary eye care center during the COVID?19 pandemic. The trained researcher conducted telephonic interviews consisting of validated 15 open?ended questions for 15 min. The questions were related to patients’ compliance toward amblyopia treatment and the date of follow?up with their practitioners. The data collected were entered on Excel sheets in the participant’s own words and later converted to a transcript for analysis. Results: A total of 217 parents of children with amblyopia who were due for follow?up were contacted through telephone. The response rate for willingness to participate was only 36% (n = 78). Of these, 76% (n = 59) of parents reported that their child was compliant toward the treatment during the therapy period and 69% reported that their child was currently not on treatment for amblyopia. Conclusion: In the current study, we have observed that although reported compliance by parents during the therapy period was good, around 69% of patients had discontinued amblyopia therapy. The main reason for the discontinuation of therapy was the failure to visit the hospital during the scheduled follow?up with the eye care practitioner.