The Impact of Covid-19 in the Follow-Up of Glaucoma Patients in a Tertiary Center: A Comparison Between Pre-Pandemic and Pandemic Periods.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on the treatment and follow-up of glaucoma patients in a tertiary center.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

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.

RESULTS

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).

CONCLUSION

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.