Persistent reduction of retinal microvascular vessel density in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 disease.
BMJ Open Ophthalmol
; 7(1): e000867, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1807429
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to analyse the possible recovery or worsening in retinal microvasculature after 8 months in a previously studied COVID-19 cohort. METHODS ANDANALYSIS:
A cross-sectional case-control study and a prospective longitudinal cohort study. Participants were the subjects of our previous study who re-enrolled for a new examination including a fundus photograph (retinography), an optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan and an OCT angiography. COVID-19 diagnosed patients were divided into three groups group 1 mild disease, asymptomatic/paucisymptomatic subjects who received outpatient care; group 2 moderate disease and group 3 severe disease, both of which required hospital admission because of pneumonia. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software (V.23.0). Cross-sectional intergroup differences were analysed by means of analysis of variance for normally distributed variables and the Kruskal-Wallis test for non-normally distributed ones. In reference to the prospective part of the study (intragroup differences, baseline with 8-month comparison), a paired t-test was used for normally distributed data and Wilcoxon signed ranks sum for non-normally distributed data.RESULTS:
The fovea-centered superficial and deep vascular densities were significantly diminished in severe cases compared with mild cases (p=0.004; p=0.003, respectively, for superficial and deep) and to controls (p=0.014; p=0.010), also in moderate cases to mild group (p=0.004; p=0.003) and to controls (p=0.012; p=0.024). In the longitudinal study, no significant statistical differences were found between baseline and 8-month follow-up vessel density values.CONCLUSION:
We demonstrated persistent reduction in the central vascular area over time in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open Ophthalmol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjophth-2021-000867
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