Global Health Systems Research Articles

The Prevalence of Cephalosporins resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from clinical specimens in Basra, Iraq

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is gram negative rod bacterium.It is commonly found in soil, water, plants and humans. Notably, P. aeruginosa has become an emerging opportunistic pathogen in hospitals, which has a major threat to the global health systems, including Iraq. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of cephalosporin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from clinical samples. Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were identified by standard microbiological procedures followed by PCR confirmation. Antibiotic susceptibility testing, for 5 antimicrobials, was conducted according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) standardized by disk diffusion methodsand VITEK 2 methods. Of the 160 clinical specimens, 81 were positive for P. aeruginosa.The results showed that 81 isolates were identified as Pseudomonasaeruginosa of which 97.53%,79%, 83%, 81.50 %, 100 and 80.30% were resistant to Cefoxitin, Ceftriaxone, Cefotaxime, Ceftazidime and Cefepime respectively. These findings highlighted a high prevalence rate of cephalosporins antibiotics resistance P. aeruginosa at Basra hospitals in Iraq.

What can an Interprofessional Global Health Course with a Focus on Decolonization Bring to Students? A Qualitative Study


 
 
 Many voices have called for dismantling the colonial legacies that permeate healthcare systems. McGill’s Interprofessional Global Health Course 2021 online edition adopted the theme of decolonizing global health. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of students enrolled in this course on a) colonial patterns embedded in global health, and b) future actions that students can take to decolonize global health. A qualitative descriptive methodology was employed. The study population included students who completed the course during the Winter 2021 semester. Following the last session, students were asked to answer four open-ended questions. The answers were analyzed thematically using inductive and deductive coding. Eighty-one of the 105 students registered for the course answered the questions and data saturation was reached after analyzing 24 answer sheets. Two themes emerged: the course informed students about the role of colonial legacies in shaping global health systems and the course helped students understand global health decolonization and plan to take relevant actions. To promote global health decolonization, future healthcare workers need to be sensitized to the ongoing impacts of colonialism. Healthcare education can serve this function through the examination and modification of curricula, but also through the employment of innovative educational approaches that help students reflect on their professional roles and responsibilities towards global health decolonization.
 
 

Hospitalization status and gender recognition over the arboviral medical records using shallow and RNN-based deep models

In global health systems, clinicians have a challenging decision of a triage patient exposed to arbovirus infections to determine they should be hospitalized. Diagnosing symptoms and molecular testing can be uncertain and costly, especially in resource-limited settings. However, machine learning approaches have a high potential to determine through medical record examination whom to hospitalize. The purpose of this study is to determine hospitalized or outpatient individuals correctly by implementing shallow machine learning algorithms on SISA (Severity Index for Suspected Arbovirus) and SISAL (Severity Index for Suspected Arbovirus with Laboratory) datasets. Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN), Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN), and Decision Tree (DecT) algorithm with three splitting criterions were used to process the SISA and SISAL datasets. The results of classification performances demonstrated that improved area under the curve scores (0.973) and accuracy (reaching up to 98.73% with FFNN) were obtained when compared with previous research study related to machine learning and arbovirus. Moreover, this study also aims to investigate gender recognition over arboviral infection medical records using recurrent neural network-based deep models. Hence vector control policy in the health system reflects the gender roles to control the spread of arboviral infection. Overall the outcomes are potentially very promising.

Sanitize the Man, Sanitize the Car: COVID-19 Disease Control in Botswana

COVID-19 has dominated global health since it became a global pandemic in early 2020. It has stressed global health systems and pushed many other health concerns to the back burner. There is an urgent need to look for innovative ways to tackle the pandemic in a sustainable and transferrable manner. This article examines the COVID-19 control measures in Botswana. It describes the innovative government actions taken to control the pandemic. It also presents the observations of the authors, who have observed these actions around the country. They report on the effectiveness of the control cordon belts and the disinfection of people and animals as well as the sanitizing of objects like shoes and cars that pass across the control boundaries. Based upon the effectiveness of the control measures in Botswana, the authors recommend an innovative disease control framework for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases which they contend is replicable in other countries.

An exploration of the Portuguese Council for Health and Environment

An exploration of the Portuguese council for health and environment Here, Dr. Mónica Rodrigues explores the Portuguese Council for Health and Environment (CPSA) efforts to prevent climate change, promote sustainability, enact a Global Health System Strategy and so much more. There is overwhelming evidence that climate change and ecosystem degradation significantly impact people's health. There is also evidence that these changes are occurring at a rate that is fast approaching irreversibility, threatening the future of humanity. Nevertheless, we also know that the health sector is the 5th largest responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. Reversing this threat still seems possible, but it depends on each country, each organisation and each person's decisions in the coming years. Healthcare professionals, as advocates for patients – but also as citizens – have the ethical obligation to be involved in this global wake-up call. The World Health Organization (WHO) and several associations and scientific societies in different countries have already called for this engagement.

A meta-synthesis of the transitioning experiences and career progression of migrant African nurses

IntroductionWith the rise in global migration, hospitals and health systems in developed countries are looking to supplement their workforces with migrant nurses who have been reported to feel devalued, underutilized with experience of deskilling and unmet expectations as they transitioned. Despite the plethora of literature reporting on the experiences of internationally trained nurses, only limited work has been done regarding understanding the experiences of Migrant African nurses. Thus, this study sought to synthesize existing qualitative studies to develop in-depth understanding of the transitioning experiences of migrant African nurses, their career progression and to highlight existing gaps to guide future studies as well as inform policies.MethodA meta-synthesis was performed and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and the Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research statement. A pre-planned search strategy was developed guided by the SPIDER tool for qualitative synthesis searching EMBASE via OVID, CINAHL via EBSCO, PubMed, Web of Science, and PsychINFO databases. We included published studies that 1) focused on migrant African nurses, 2) employed a qualitative design and 3) reported in English.ResultsThe search yielded 139 studies of which nine studies met the inclusion criteria and included in final synthesis. Three themes with corresponding subthemes emerged from data synthesis: 1) Navigating reality shock (a. Navigating a new culture, b. Survival strategies and support amidst the shock); 2) Discrimination and limited opportunities for promotion (a. Prejudices and preference for White over Black, b. Lack of recognition and limited opportunities for a workplace promotion); and 3) Finding one’s feet (a. Standing up for oneself and looking beyond discrimination, b. Experiencing growth).ConclusionTransitioning to a new setting can be a challenging experience for migrant African nurses warranting the availability of a tailor-made adaptation or orientation programme. Though African nurses may experience discrimination and prejudices as part of their transition, they consider their situation to be better off compared to back home. Therefore, clear transitioning policies which focus on career pathways are required by hiring institutions, and migrant nurses should be proactive in taking active roles in pushing their career ahead, instead of maintaining a culture of silence.

Global elective breast- and colorectal cancer surgery performance backlogs, attributable mortality and implemented health system responses during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review.

Globally, 28.4 million non-emergent ('elective') surgical procedures have been deferred during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on elective breast- or colorectal cancer (CRC) procedure backlogs and attributable mortality, globally. Further, we evaluated the interaction between procedure deferrals and health systems, internationally. Relevant articles from any country, published between December 2019-24 November 2022, were identified through searches of online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE) and by examining the reference lists of retrieved articles. We organised health system-related findings thematically per the Structures-Processes-Outcomes conceptual model by Donabedian (1966). Of 337 identified articles, we included 50. Eleven (22.0%) were reviews. The majority of included studies originated from high-income countries (n = 38, 76.0%). An ecological, modelling study elucidated that global 12-week procedure cancellation rates ranged from 68.3%-73%; Europe and Central Asia accounted for the majority of cancellations (n = 8,430,348) and sub-Saharan Africa contributed the least (n = 520,459). The percentage reduction in global, institutional elective breast cancer surgery activity ranged from 5.68%-16.5%. For CRC, this ranged from 0%-70.9%. Significant evidence is presented on how insufficient pandemic preparedness necessitated procedure deferrals, internationally. We also outlined ancillary determinants of delayed surgery (e.g., patient-specific factors). The following global health system response themes are presented: Structural changes (i.e., hospital re-organisation), Process-related changes (i.e., adapted healthcare provision) and the utilisation of Outcomes (i.e., SARS-CoV-2 infection incidence among patients or healthcare personnel, postoperative pulmonary complication incidence, hospital readmission, length of hospital stay and tumour staging) as indicators of health system response efficacy. Evidence on procedure backlogs and attributable mortality was limited, partly due to insufficient, real-time surveillance of cancer outcomes, internationally. Elective surgery activity has decreased and cancer services have adapted rapidly, worldwide. Further research is needed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer mortality and the efficacy of health system mitigation measures, globally.

Deep-Learning-Based COVID-19 Diagnosis and Implementation in Embedded Edge-Computing Device.

The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed enormous challenges to the global public health system. To deal with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the more accurate and convenient diagnosis of patients needs to be developed. This paper proposes a deep-learning-based COVID-19 detection method and evaluates its performance on embedded edge-computing devices. By adding an attention module and mixed loss into the original VGG19 model, the method can effectively reduce the parameters of the model and increase the classification accuracy. The improved model was first trained and tested on the PC X86 GPU platform using a large dataset (COVIDx CT-2A) and a medium dataset (integrated CT scan); the weight parameters of the model were reduced by around six times compared to the original model, but it still approximately achieved 98.80%and 97.84% accuracy, outperforming most existing methods. The trained model was subsequently transferred to embedded NVIDIA Jetson devices (TX2, Nano), where it achieved 97% accuracy at a 0.6-1 FPS inference speed using the NVIDIA TensorRT engine. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is practicable and convenient; it can be used on a low-cost medical edge-computing terminal. The source code is available on GitHub for researchers.

A Prospective Cohort Study of COVID-19: Evaluation of the Early Role of IL-1 and IL-6 Antagonists in Improving the Outcome of the Illness and Reduction in the Risk of Death

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on global health, economies, and social systems. The crucial factor that determines the success of COVID-19 treatments is preventing the need for mechanical ventilation and intensive care admission. In the context of COVID-19, several treatments have been found to play a role in the disease's progression and severity. Interleukins (ILs) have been identified as key mediators of the cytokine storm that can occur in severe cases of COVID-19, leading to respiratory failure and other complications. For instance, IL-1 antagonist (anakinra) and IL-6 antagonist (tocilizumab) are supposed to be promising treatments as well as cortisones for COVID-19. This prospective study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of anakinra or tocilizumab in addition to cortisone in preventing the progression of mild to moderate COVID-19 cases to severe intensive care admission. Biochemical and hematological parameters, such as D-dimer, ferritin, LDH, CRP, and white blood cells (WBCs), were measured after treatment with either anakinra or tocilizumab in addition to cortisone or cortisone alone. The study also recorded the number of deaths and patients admitted to intensive care. The results indicate that anakinra significantly improved outcomes and decreased the number of intensive care admissions compared to tocilizumab or cortisone alone. Therefore, anakinra may play a vital role in controlling the progression of COVID-19, and its use in mild to moderate cases may prevent the worsening of the disease to severe stages.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Socioeconomic Deprivation on Admissions to the Emergency Department for Psychiatric Illness: An Observational Study in a Province of Southern Italy.

The restriction measures adopted to limit population movement in order to contain the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a global public health system crisis. This retrospective study aimed at identifying changes in psychiatric admissions to Accident and Emergency Departments (A&Es) in a province in southern Italy during the first two years of the pandemic and was characterized by two different restriction levels (phases 2 and 3) compared to the pre-pandemic period (phase 1). We also investigated the role of socioeconomic deprivation (DI) on psychiatric admissions. The total number of patients admitted to the A&Es was 291,310. The incidence of admission for a psychiatric disorder (IPd) was 4.9 per 1000 admissions, with a significant younger median age of 42 [IQR 33-56] compared to non-psychiatric patients (54 [35-73]). The type of admission and type of discharge were factors related to the psychiatric admission to A&E, and their relationship was modified by the pandemic. In the first year of the pandemic, patients with psychomotor agitation increased compared to the pre-pandemic period (72.5% vs. 62.3%). In the period preceding the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the IPd was equal to 3.33 ± 0.19; after the pandemic started, there was an increase in the IPd: 4.74 ± 0.32 for phase 2 and 3.68 ± 0.25 for phase 3. The IPd was higher for psychiatric admissions from areas with a very low DI compared to areas with a low DI; however, during phase 2, this difference was reduced. In conclusion, an increase in admissions for psychiatric disease was observed during the initial spread of SARS-CoV-2. Patients who lived in the most deprived municipalities generally came to the A&Es less than others, probably because the patients and their families had less awareness of their mental health. Therefore, public health policies to address these issues are needed to reduce the pandemic's impact on these conditions.

Availability of Maternal, Newborn care and Child Health Services at Primary Health Care Unit during COVID-19 Outbreak in Ethiopia.

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a pressure on global health systems. The disruption of essential health services (EHS) has an impact on the health of mothers, neonate and children in developing countries. Therefore, the main aim of this study was assessing the availability of Maternal, Newborn care and Child health (MNCHS) services at primary health care unit during COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in five regions of Ethiopia in 2021. Descriptive analyses were undertaken using STATA 16 software and the results presented using tables and different graphs. A continuity of EHS assessment tool adopted from WHO was used for data collection. During COVID -19 pandemic, 30 (69.8%) of woreda health offices, 52 (56.5%) of health centers (HCs), 7 (44.4%) of hospitals, and 165 (48%) of health posts (HPs) had a defined list of EHS. In comparison with other EHS, family planning is the least available service in all regions. At HPs level care for sick children and antenatal care (ANC) were available at 59.1 and 58.82% respectively. Except immunization services at SNNP, all other maternal, newborn, and child health EHS were not available to all HPs at full scale. Immunization services were most available, while ANC and care for sick children were least available during COVID-19 at the HPs level. There was regional variation in MNCH EHS service availability at all levels.

Olfactory Dysfunction in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Narrative Review

Background: The global public health and economic systems have been severely damaged by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is one of the most prevalent symptoms experienced by COVID-19 patients, documented in clinical practice. In some individuals, OD is the first or the sole clinical symptom. In this review, the clinical characteristics, causes, evaluation procedures, prognosis, and available treatments of COVID-19-induced OD were examined. Methods: The PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and Google Scholar databases were searched for the related articles from inception until August 2022. Results: OD appears to be common in COVID-19, particularly in younger individuals and women and those with milder disease. Even though the issue is still unresolved, current research suggests that COVID-19-related OD is not caused by direct injury to olfactory sensory neurons but instead is a result of indirect injury to these cells. Moreover, effective therapeutic methods are inadequate despite the high prevalence of COVID-19-related OD. Conclusion: The focus of medical practice regarding COVID-19-related OD should be on identifying individuals with a poor prognosis who may benefit from early management to prevent complications, e.g., depression and anxiety, because COVID-19 OD generally has a good prognosis and quick recovery time.

Complexities and benefits of adopting next-generation sequencing-based tuberculosis diagnostics: a qualitative study among stakeholders in low and high-income countries

ObjectivesTo clarify perceived benefits, barriers and facilitators of Mycobacterium tuberculosis next-generation sequencing implementation in Madagascar and Canada, towards informing implementation of this diagnostic technology in public health agencies and clinical...

Mental health in times of COVID-19. Technology as a supporting tool

As a result of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its declaration as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, global health systems have established measures of social isolation and border closures in order to reduce the spread of the virus. This situation generates anguish and anxiety in the population, which requires urgent measures of support and psychological help.1

Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia.

The availability and access to COVID-19 vaccinations are critical to a successful pandemic response. More than 70% of the population reportedly needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity worldwide. However, the reluctance to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccines is holding up the process of vaccination and efforts to control the pandemic and its negative consequences for the global health system, society, and economy. Previous studies have shown low uptake of vaccination in some Middle Eastern countries due to negative attitudes toward vaccination, including concerns about safety and efficacy and doubts about the need for vaccination. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, attitudes, and factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers, academic staff, and students in Saudi Arabia after the vaccine was made widely available by the government. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence, attitudes, and association between demographic factors and uptake of the first or second dose of vaccination among Saudi Arabian health workers and students. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered and distributed through the Qualtrics platform. The study recruited 173 participants from different countries and from different Saudi regions, most of whom were faculty members (n = 83). Results indicated significant differences between regions; the mean attitude score for the Western region (M 3.23) was significantly higher than that for other regions (M 3.08, p = 0.030). There was also an association between education level and number of vaccine doses received. Thus, the participants with higher education were the most compliant with national vaccination requirements (p = 0.004). Although the three professional groups reported social media as the most frequently reported source of information (p = 0.021), administrators were more likely to receive information from the MOH than other professional groups. Similarly, faculty members were more likely to receive information from colleagues and professional journals than the other two professional groups. Government officials should build public confidence through vaccination campaigns and devise effective health education programs to increase vaccination uptake. Authorized institutions can effectively use social media platforms to encourage vaccination and promote awareness among all audiences.

Assessment of a pandemic emergency financing facility

The pandemic bond issued by the World Bank (WB) in 2017 is a financial innovation enabling the transfer of the pandemic risk from the underdeveloped/developing countries to the financial market. It covers perils of various diseases that could overwhelm the global health systems and adversely impact the world economy. If all the triggers are activated, the bond’s principal and coupons are used to finance coordinated, swift and resilient medical response to safeguard the well-being of the populace. This product, however, is criticised for its onerous trigger requirements. We examine the WB’s pandemic-bond pricing framework, which requires inputs that are only partially available. From a rather unstructured COVID-19 data set, an information database is created and customised for pandemic-bond valuation. A vector auto-regressive moving average model is utilised to jointly describe the triggers dynamics. Our modelling simulations of risk triggers reveal that the bond payout could be made in less than half of the WB’s earliest opportunity of 85 days.

A Strategy for Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Guyana: The Guyana Diabetes Risk Score

Background: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) imposes an enormous and mounting burden on global public health systems, especially in developing countries such as Guyana. However, primary prevention of type 2 diabetes can be achieved through organized lifestyle intervention programs for weight loss, increased physical activity and dietary restrictions. Therefore, there is a need to develop local risk stratification tools tailored to the local population to identify high-risk individuals who may benefit from these interventions. Objectives: This study proposes implementing a program for the primary prevention of T2DM in high-risk adults (18 – 55 years) in Guyana. The main objective is to identify adults at high-risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus using a Diabetic Risk Score and to enroll the participants in a lifestyle intervention program. Methods: The health belief model is a theoretical framework that guides health promotion programs by predicting health behaviours. A health promotion campaign will target high-risk adults at local healthcare facilities and across Guyana through television, radio and social media adverts. The health promotion adverts will inform and educate the target population to complete the Guyana Diabetic Risk Score questionnaire. If the score on the Guyana Diabetic Risk Score questionnaire exceeds 50, the participants will be enrolled in a lifestyle intervention program, 'Healthy Me'. Results and Discussion: Minor changes in lifestyle, such as a healthy diet, increased physical activity, and healthy body weight, can reduce diabetes in high-risk adults by over 50%. Conclusions: The Guyana Diabetes Risk Score is a low-cost, non-invasive, practical tool to identify individuals at high risk for T2DM in Guyana. Keywords: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, T2DM, Guyana Diabetes Risk Score.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the health services provided by the Cardiothoracic Minia University Hospital in Egypt: A single-center retrospective observational study.

The emergence of the new coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2) in late 2019 resulted in a worldwide pandemic, which had severe consequences on the global health systems. There were drastic strains on the public health services. This, in turn, markedly affected patients with non-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) problems. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 infection on the health services provided to patients at the cardiothoracic university hospital, Minia University. A retrospective analysis of data about services provided to patients at Minia Cardiothoracic University hospital was obtained from pre-pandemic era (2018-2019) and during the pandemic time (2020-2021). The two sets of data were compared together. Data were collected about the number of patients who underwent different procedures such as Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs), sleep studies or interventional chest procedures (bronchoscopy and thoracoscopy). Also, data were collected about the number of patients admitted in the chest ward, respiratory intensive care unit (ICU) or Coronary care unit and the number of patients who visited cardiothoracic, cardiology or chest outpatient clinics. There is 81.4% reduction in the number of Pulmonary Function Testsperformed during the period 2020-2021 compared with the period 2018-2019, where the number of patients admitted to chest inward decreased by 66.4%. The number of sleep studies performed reduced by 61.5%, while the number of different outpatient clinical visits reduced to similar values (45.8% for cardiothoracic clinic, 45.4% for cardiology clinic and 40.5% for chest clinic). Regarding respiratory ICU admissions, the study reported a reduction of 35.7% and also Coronary care unit admissions decreased by 30.6%. Interventional pulmonary procedures had the lowest reduction rate (0.7%). Different health services were negatively affected by the emergence of COVID-19 era in both pulmonary and non-pulmonary fields.

Value-based medicine as an opportunity for the Polish health care system in a post-pandemic reality on the example of selected health programs

The article aims to present the concept of value-based medicine (VBM) in the Polish health care system. The author reviewed the literature on the subject and formulated a research problem and two research questions to solve it. The issue of considering is health programs of the National Health Fund based on value. The author used professional scientific databases: Taylor & Francis online, PubMed, and Google Scholar to collect the bibliography. The literature on the subject covers mainly the years 2020–2022. First, the author presented the study’s theoretical framework by defining the EBM and VBM concepts, discussing the three main pillars of VBM, and highlighting its value limitations. Next, the author referred to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on global health systems. The author characterized the current state of the health care system in Poland and listed its prospects for the post-pandemic future. Finally, the author presented three selected health programs based on the VBM model implemented in Polish healthcare: comprehensive coordinated care after myocardial infarction (KOS‑Zawał), POZ PLUS model, and comprehensive treatment of chronic wounds (KLRP-1 and KLRP-2). Of course, the discussed programs require further improvement and modification and may constitute the basis for developing other, new value-based programs. The value-based medicine model can complement the three branches of medicine — evidence-based, narrative, and integrative. Including these elements in the VBM model could benefit the entire health system, primarily medical staff and patients.

The causal relationship between COVID-19 and increased intraocular pressure: A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought great challenges to the global public health system and huge economic burdens to society, the causal effect of COVID-19 and intraocular pressure was blank. This study aimed to explore the causal association between coronavirus disease (COVID-19) susceptibility, severity and criticality and intraocular pressure (IOP) by bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Genetic associations with COVID-19 susceptibility, severity and criticality were obtained from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. Genetic associations with IOP were obtained from GWAS summary data. The standard inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used in the primary assessment of this causality. Other methods were also implemented in supplementary analyses. Finally, sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability and stability of the results. The results showed that COVID-19 susceptibility had null effect on IOP (β = 0.131; Se = 0.211; P = 0.533) as assessed by the IVW method. Moreover, the results revealed that COVID-19 severity, specifically, hospitalization due to COVID-19, had a positive effect on IOP with nominal significance (β = 0.228; Se = 0.116; P = 0.049). However, there were null effect of COVID-19 criticality on IOP (β = 0.078; Se = 0.065; P = 0.227). Sensitivity analysis showed that all the results were reliable and stable. The reverse MR analysis revealed that there was null effect of IOP on COVID-19. We demonstrated that hospitalization due to COVID-19 might increase IOP; therefore, greater attention should be given to monitoring IOP in inpatients with COVID-19.