Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Inpatient Volume at a Tertiary Eye Care Center in Germany with Corneal Main Specialization.

BACKGROUND

To estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency inpatient volume in a tertiary eye care center in Germany with corneal main subspecialization.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A retrospective review of ocular emergency patients who attended the inpatient unit of the Department of Ophthalmology of Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic, between 1 March and 30 April 2020, in comparison to the same time period in 2019. For each subject, clinical history and surgical reports were reviewed. After 24 March 2020, PCR examinations for SARS-CoV-2 were performed from throat swab specimens in all patients using real-time RT-PCR.

RESULTS

Totally, 135 patients were admitted in 2019 and 115 patients in 2020 as emergency cases. The patient age at the time of admission did not differ significantly between the two time periods (63.6 ± 17.9 years vs. 62.5 ± 19.6 years) (p = 0.792), but the average length of hospital stays increased significantly for 2020 (4.0 ± 3.6 vs. 4.4 ± 2.7 days, p = 0.043). The percentage of admissions due to acute corneal hydrops (0% vs. 3.5%) increased significantly from 2019 to 2020 (χ = 4.772, p = 0.028), however, there was not a significant difference between the two years for any other diagnosis (χ ≤ 3.564, p ≥ 0.059). From 2019 to 2020, the percentage of acute intravitreal anti-VEGF injections decreased significantly (7.9% vs. 1.3%, χ = 3.985, p = 0.045), but the proportion of other emergency surgeries did not differ between the two years (χ ≤ 3.617, p ≥ 0.057). COVID-19 PCR examination was performed in 66 (57.4%) cases in 2020 and all samples (100%) were negative.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID pandemic did not change emergency inpatient volume in our department, but duration of hospital stay was extended on average by 8 hours, mainly due to additional COVID-19-PCR examinations. The proportion of the most frequently performed surgeries did not change remarkably between 2019 and 2020, but with the introduction of Muraine's sutures in 2019, the percentage of admissions with acute corneal hydrops (with or without subsequent surgery) increased for 2020. No urgent surgery had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic at our department; all operations were performed successfully.