Ally Naseer, Ismail Sarah, Naidu Natasha, Makda Ismail, Mayet Ismail, Gyasi Michael E, Makafui Peter, Nomo Arlette, Nanfack Chantal, Madikane Anesu T, Pohl Walda D, Mbambisa Bayanda N, Oettle Jonathan T, Adepoju Feyi, Tota-Bolarinwa Toibat B, Buque Amelia, Khalau Sidonia J N, Zirima Douglas, Takayidza Brian, Eze Ugochukwu A, Adedeji Akinyemi, Sandi Frank, Feksi Jacinta, Okonkwo Ogugua, Hassan Adekunle, du Toit Nagib, Petersen Shahlaa, Tsimi Caroline, Dovoma Viola, Bature Mustapha, Adamu Mohammed, Okeke Suhanyah, Asimadu Ifeoma N, Kizor-Akaraiwe Nkiru N, Ezisi Chinyelu N, Nkumbe Henry E, Olivier Tchoyou T M, Alli Hassan D
St John Eye Hospital, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
St Thomas Eye Hospital, Accra, Ghana.
Trop Med Health. 2024 Mar 15;52(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s41182-024-00589-1.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on healthcare and ophthalmology services globally. Numerous studies amongst various medical and surgical specialties showed a reduction in patient attendance and surgical procedures performed. Prior published ophthalmic literature focused on specific types of procedures and were usually single centre. The current study attempts to quantify the impact on a larger scale, namely that of sub-Saharan Africa, and to include all ophthalmic subspecialties.
This is a retrospective analysis of the surgical records from 17 ophthalmology centres in seven countries located in East, Central, West and Southern Africa. The date of declaration of the first lockdown was used as the beginning of the pandemic and the pivot point to compare theatre records one year prior to the pandemic and the first year of the pandemic. We examined the total number of surgical procedures over the two year period and categorized them according to ophthalmic subspecialty and type of procedure performed. We then compared the pre-pandemic and pandemic surgical numbers over the two year period.
There were 26,357 ophthalmic surgical procedures performed with a significant decrease in the first year of the pandemic (n = 8942) compared to the year prior to the pandemic (n = 17,415). The number of surgical procedures performed was lower in the first year of the pandemic compared to the year prior to the pandemic by 49% [Incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.51, 95% CI 0.41-0.64), 27% (0.73, 0.55-0.99), 46% (0.54, 0.30-0.99), 40% (0.60, 0.39-0.92) and 59% (0.41, 0.29-0.57) in sub-Saharan Africa (4 regions combined), West, Central, East and Southern Africa, respectively]. The number of surgical procedures in the different sub-specialty categories in sub-Saharan Africa (4 regions combined) was significantly lower in the first year of the pandemic compared to the year prior to the pandemic, except for glaucoma (IRR 0.72, 95% CI 0.52-1.01), oncology (0.71, 0.48-1.05), trauma (0.90, 0.63-1.28) and vitreoretinal (0.67, 0.42-1.08) categories.
This study provides insight into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple regions and countries on the African continent. The identification of which surgical subspecialty was most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in each region allows for better planning and resource allocation to address these backlogs.
新冠疫情对全球医疗保健和眼科服务产生了深远影响。众多针对不同医学和外科专科的研究表明，患者就诊人数和所实施的外科手术数量有所减少。先前发表的眼科文献聚焦于特定类型的手术，且通常为单中心研究。本研究试图在更大规模上，即撒哈拉以南非洲地区，量化其影响，并涵盖所有眼科亚专科。
这是一项对来自东非、中非、西非和南非七个国家的17个眼科中心手术记录的回顾性分析。首次封锁声明的日期被用作疫情开始的时间点，以此为基准比较疫情前一年和疫情第一年的手术室记录。我们检查了两年期间的外科手术总数，并根据眼科亚专科和所实施手术的类型进行分类。然后我们比较了两年期间疫情前和疫情期间的手术数量。
共进行了26357例眼科手术，与疫情前一年（n = 17415）相比，疫情第一年（n = 8942）的手术数量显著减少。疫情第一年实施的手术数量比疫情前一年减少了49%[发病率比（IRR）0.51，95%置信区间0.41 - 0.6），分别在撒哈拉以南非洲（4个地区合并）、西非、中非、东非和南非为27%（0.73，0.55 - 0.99）、46%（0.54，0.30 - 0.99）、40%（0.60，0.39 - 0.92）和59%（0.41，0.29 - 0.57）]。与疫情前一年相比，撒哈拉以南非洲（4个地区合并）不同亚专科类别的手术数量在疫情第一年显著减少，但青光眼（IRR 0.72，95%置信区间0.52 - 1.01）、肿瘤学（0.71，0.48 - 1.05）、创伤（0.90，0.63 - 1.28）和玻璃体视网膜（0.67，0.42 - 1.08）类别除外。
本研究深入了解了新冠疫情在非洲大陆多个地区和国家的影响。确定每个地区受新冠疫情影响最严重的外科亚专科，有助于更好地规划和资源分配，以解决这些积压问题。
