Abstract
BackgroundThe goal of this study is to compare ophthalmic emergency room (OER) visits during the Coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic to those during a control period.MethodsWe compared all visits to the OER to Meir Medical Center in Israel, from March 15th to April 15th, 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic and government mandated quarantine, to the same period in 2019. Factors analyzed were patient demographics, chief complaints, referral patterns, exam findings, treatments given, hospitalizations and surgical interventions.ResultsWe included in this study 1311 visits of 1158 patients, 477 during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and 834 during the same period in 2019. The demographic distribution (age, gender, and ethnicity) was similar between the two periods. LogMAR visual acuity at presentation was worse during the Covid-19 pandemic (0.42 ± 0.6 and 0.34 ± 0.5 in 2020 and 2019 respectively; p = 0.025) and the number of emergent surgeries was higher (3.7% in 2020 vs 1.8% in 2019, p = 0.026). In 2019 there was a higher likelihood of involvement of both segments of the eye (4.82% versus 1.2%, p < 0.01) and more diagnoses were given to each patient (1 ± 0.5 versus 0.93 ± 0.35, p = 0.001; During the Covid − 19 pandemic medications (both topical and systemic) were prescribed more often (1.22 ± 0.95 in 2020 and 0.84 ± 0.67 in 2019, p < 0.001).ConclusionsOER visits were less frequent during the Covid − 19 pandemic as compared to 2019, though the demographics of the patients remained unchanged. Visits during the pandemic tended to be for more severe ocular conditions, with worse visual acuity at presentation and required more medical and surgical treatment which imply higher necessity of ocular evaluation. This analysis can aid healthcare resource management in similar scenarios in the future.
Highlights
The goal of this study is to compare ophthalmic emergency room (OER) visits during the Coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic to those during a control period
Visits to the Ophthalmic emergency room (OER) are unplanned events, the nature of which depend on living patterns that were dramatically affected by the Covid − 19 pandemic
Visits to the Ophthalmic emergency room (OER) are unplanned events, the nature of which depend on several factors. These factors include living patterns that were dramatically affected by the Covid − 19 pandemic, and the prevalence of diseases in the population [4]
Summary
The goal of this study is to compare ophthalmic emergency room (OER) visits during the Coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic to those during a control period. The Coronavirus disease-19 (Covid − 19) pandemic has had a significant effect on health care delivery in a wide variety of medical disciplines [1,2,3]. These effects were due to the different allocation of resources within the health care system, and different patterns of health care consumption. Between March 15th and April 15th, 2020, like in many parts of the world, Israel was under government mandated quarantine and people were instructed to limit their outings from home to a minimum During this time, public hospitals in Israel were re-organized to prepare for the possible increase in Covid − 19 related morbidity. Medical service was always available to all patients regardless of their age
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