Oren Burak, Kocabas Dilara Ozkoyuncu
Department of Ophthalmology, Adıyaman University Training and Research Hospital, Adıyaman, Turkey.
Department of Ophthalmology, TOBB ETU School of Medicine, TOBB ETU, Ankara, Turkey.
Ther Adv Ophthalmol. 2022 May 9;14:25158414221096057. doi: 10.1177/25158414221096057. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.
The ocular manifestations of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vary from acute follicular, pseudomembranous, and hemorrhagic conjunctivitis to keratoconjunctivitis with subepithelial infiltrates and dendritic lesions. Similar to other respiratory viruses, such as adenoviruses, it is thought that COVID-19 may impact the cornea. However, its impact on the cornea and anterior segment parameters are currently poorly understood.
This study aims to assess the corneal endothelial cell morphology and anterior segment parameters in patients who have recovered from COVID-19.
In this cross-sectional study, the COVID-19 group comprised 34 patients who had been diagnosed with and recovered from COVID-19, while the control group comprised age- and sex-matched individuals without any systemic or ocular diseases. The endothelial cell density (ECD), coefficient of variation (CV) of cell area, hexagonal cell percentage (HEX), anterior chamber depth (ACD), central corneal thickness (CCT), horizontal anterior chamber diameter (HACD), iridocorneal angle (ICA), horizontal visible iris diameter (HVID), pupillary diameter (PD), and keratometry values (K1 and K2) were analyzed for each participant. The differences in each of these between the groups were analyzed using either an independent samples test or a Mann-Whitney test based on the normality of the data.
Regarding corneal endothelial cell morphology, the ECDs for the COVID-19 and control groups were 2278.50 ± 186.78 cells/mm and 2420.15 ± 222.25 cells/mm, respectively ( = 0.002). A significant increase was noted in CV values in the COVID-19 group compared with the control group ( < 0.001). The HEX values for the COVID-19 and control groups were 56.26 ± 5.75 and 61.50 ± 3.63, respectively ( < 0.001). Regarding the anterior segment parameters, no significant differences were observed between the groups ( > 0.05).
It was hypothesized that individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 would demonstrate a reduction in their endothelial functional preserves. A decrease in ECD and HEX and an increase in CV were observed in the individuals during their early post-recovery period from COVID-19.
2019年新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的眼部表现多种多样，从急性滤泡性、假膜性和出血性结膜炎到伴有上皮下浸润和树枝状病变的角膜结膜炎。与其他呼吸道病毒（如腺病毒）类似，人们认为COVID-19可能会影响角膜。然而，目前对其对角膜和眼前节参数的影响了解甚少。
本研究旨在评估COVID-19康复患者的角膜内皮细胞形态和眼前节参数。
在这项横断面研究中，COVID-19组包括34例已被诊断为COVID-19并康复的患者，而对照组包括年龄和性别匹配、无任何全身或眼部疾病的个体。分析了每位参与者的内皮细胞密度（ECD）、细胞面积变异系数（CV）、六角形细胞百分比（HEX）、前房深度（ACD）、中央角膜厚度（CCT）、水平前房直径（HACD）、虹膜角膜角（ICA）、水平可见虹膜直径（HVID）、瞳孔直径（PD）和角膜曲率值（K1和K2）。根据数据的正态性，使用独立样本t检验或曼-惠特尼U检验分析两组之间这些指标的差异。
关于角膜内皮细胞形态，COVID-19组和对照组的ECD分别为2278.50±186.78个细胞/mm²和2420.15±222.25个细胞/mm²（P = 0.002）。与对照组相比，COVID-19组的CV值显著增加（P < 0.001）。COVID-19组和对照组的HEX值分别为56.26±5.75和61.50±3.63（P < 0.001）。关于眼前节参数，两组之间未观察到显著差异（P > 0.05）。
据推测，COVID-19康复者的内皮功能储备会降低。在COVID-19康复后的早期，观察到这些个体的ECD和HEX降低，CV增加。
