Relationship between Ocular Manifestations and Chest pain: A frequency based analysis of Systemic and Ocular Signs in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Objective: To find the frequencies of systemic and ocular signs in confirmed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive COVID-19 cases and to find association between ocular manifestation and systemic signs in Covid-19 patients. Study Design: A prospective cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Department of Medicine and Ophthalmology, KRL Hospital Islamabad. The research lasted six months, from 1st January 2021 to 31st August 2021. Methodology: A total of 416 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 positive patients were included. As a sample strategy, purposive sampling was adopted. SPSS version 21 was used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics was calculated for continuous variables. Chi square test was applied to find association among systemic and ocular signs. Results: The study included 73% men, and 27% women. Patients presented with body aches 67%, sudden onset retrosternal chest pain 21.9%, abdominal pain 14.4%, ocular symptoms 10.3%, loss of taste 67%, and loss of smell 66.7%, loose motion 1.1% and shortness of breath in 1%. The patients' mean platelet counts were 230.30 ±65.63, mean lymphocyte counts were 3702 ±176, t mean total leucocyte counts (TLCs) were 7.524 ±5, and mean c-reactive protein (CRP) level was 21.816 with SD of ±25.992.Assessing the relation between ocular symptoms and other systemic symptoms, the Chi-square test revealed an insignificant relationship. However, it showed a significant association between chest pain and ocular symptoms with a p-Value 0.001. Conclusion: This study found a significant association between chest pain and conjunctivitis in COVID-19 patients, attributing chest pain to respiratory issues, inflammation, and blood clotting. Conjunctivitis was prevalent, especially in healthy, young individuals. Keywords: COVID-19, Chest Pain, Conjunctivitis, Ocular Symptoms.