Epidemiological evolution of viral conjunctivitis in ophthalmology emergency departments during the Covid‐19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

PurposeThe COVID‐19 pandemic has substantially changed hygiene habits and measures to reduce the transmission of viruses through the respiratory route. The purpose is to analyse the influence of these measures on the incidence of adenovirus eye infections during the first phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Spain.MethodsRetrospective study by consecutive sampling of patients who attended the Ophthalmology Emergency Department of our hospital between March 19 and April 30, 2019 and 2020. Quantitative variables were analysed using Student's t‐test for independent data and the difference in the proportion of patients diagnosed with viral conjunctivitis was measured using the chi‐square test (IBM spss 20).ResultsAll medical records of patients in the 2020 group were reviewed and no evidence of COVID infection was found in the 10 days following their visit to the hospital. We found no significant differences in age or sex. In the 2019 period, a total of 1139 patients were seen, of which 162 (14.2%) had a clinical diagnosis of adenovirus conjunctivitis vs. 977 (85.8%) had other diagnoses. In 2020, there were 280 patients seen in the same time period, with 19 (6.8%) diagnosed with conjunctivitis compared to 261 with other diagnoses (93.2%).We found a significant decrease in the incidence of cases of adenovirus conjunctivitis in 2020 compared to 2019 (p = 0.001). The 17.90% of patients (29) returned to the emergency department after a diagnosis of viral conjunctivitis in 2019, while only one of the patients seen in 2020 returned.ConclusionsThe use of face masks as well as hand and surface hygiene measures, especially in the healthcare setting, clearly reduce the incidence of adenovirus eye infections. Although the sample collected during 2020 covers the first period of confinement in Spain, our impression is that the trend of decreasing cases of adenovirus conjunctivitis cases is sustained over time.ReferencesRomano MR, et al. Facing COVID‐19 in Ophthalmology Department. Curr Eye Res. 2020;45(6)653–658.Hoeferlin C, Review of Clinical and Operative Recommendations for Ophthalmology Practices During the COVID‐19 Pandemic. SN Compr Clin Med. 2021;1–6.Güemes‐Villahoz N, et al. Conjunctivitis in COVID‐19 patients frequency and clinical presentation. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2020.