Ayub Gabriel, de Vasconcelos José Paulo Cabral, Costa Vital Paulino
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
Clin Ophthalmol. 2021 Nov 3;15:4381-4387. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S334147. eCollection 2021.
To evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on the treatment and follow-up of glaucoma patients in a tertiary center.
We compared the total number of outpatient clinical visits, visual field exams, surgical procedures and medications released in the pre-pandemic period (March 2019-February 2020) and pandemic period (March 2020-February 2021). We also performed a paired analysis, which included patients who were examined in both periods, comparing the number of visits and medications.
The total number of outpatients clinical visits, visual field exams, surgical procedures and medications released decreased 92.52% (7117 vs 532), 93.84% (1525 vs 94), 72.74% (682 vs 145) and 19.63% (23,259 vs 18,692), respectively, when the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods were compared. The mean number of annual clinical visits per patient (1.8 ± 0.79 vs 1.04 ± 0.18, p<0.0001) and surgical procedures per patient (1.46 ± 0.92 vs 1.13 ± 0.41, p<0.0001) decreased significantly, whereas the mean number of medications released per patient did not change significantly (28.62 ± 19.11 vs 30.34 ± 20.15, p=0.97). In the paired analysis, the mean number of visits (n=423 patients) decreased from 1.86 ± 0.76 to 1.04 ± 0.19 (p<0.0001) and the mean number of medications (n=561 patients) decreased from 33.44 ± 18.61 to 31.97 ± 19.86 in the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, respectively (p=0.393).
The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically decreased the number of outpatient visits and surgical procedures, impacting the follow-up of glaucoma patients in our service. We encourage other health care units to verify the impact of the pandemic in their own population to better prepare for a possible overload of uncontrolled glaucoma patients in the future.
评估新冠疫情对某三级医疗中心青光眼患者治疗及随访的影响。
我们比较了疫情前时期（2019年3月至2020年2月）和疫情时期（2020年3月至2021年2月）门诊临床就诊、视野检查、手术操作及发放药物的总数。我们还进行了配对分析，纳入在两个时期均接受检查的患者，比较就诊次数和药物使用情况。
与疫情前时期相比，门诊临床就诊、视野检查、手术操作及发放药物的总数分别减少了92.52%（7117次对532次）、93.84%（1525次对94次）、72.74%（682次对145次）和19.63%（23259次对18692次）。每位患者每年的平均临床就诊次数（1.8±0.79次对1.04±0.18次，p<0.0001）和每位患者的手术操作次数（1.46±0.92次对1.13±0.41次，p<0.0001）显著减少，而每位患者发放药物的平均数量无显著变化（28.62±19.11次对30.34±20.15次，p=0.97）。在配对分析中，疫情前时期和疫情时期，平均就诊次数（n=423例患者）从1.86±0.76次降至1.04±0.19次（p<0.0001），平均药物使用量（n=561例患者）分别从33.44±18.61次降至31.97±19.86次（p=0.393）。
新冠疫情显著减少了门诊就诊次数和手术操作数量，影响了我们科室青光眼患者的随访。我们鼓励其他医疗单位核实疫情对其自身患者群体的影响，以便为未来可能出现的未控制青光眼患者数量过载做好更好准备。
