The Course of Glaucoma in Recovered COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To observe the course of glaucoma progression after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment of patients with a previous history of glaucoma. Design Multicentric observational case-control study Materials and Methods This observational case-control study included total 74 patients with COVID-19 infection who were diagnosed with glaucoma previously. The study focused on the left eye of 37 patients each were treated as inpatient or outpatient. Age, gender, existence of systemic and ocular diseases, symptoms, laboratory results, drugs used for COVID-19 and glaucoma, length of hospital stay, intraocular pressure (IOP), and central corneal thickness (CCT) values were recorded. Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (ppRNFLT), ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer complex thickness (GCIPLT) and vertical cup-disc (C-D) ratio results were compared before (pre-COVID-19) and after (post-COVID-19) COVID-19 treatment in both groups. Results A significant increase was observed in IOP values in both inpatient and outpatient groups (p = 0,02, p < 0,01 respectively) after COVID-19 infection. However, mean difference (MD) was higher in inpatient group for IOP levels (-1,76). Inpatient and outpatient groups showed statistically significant decrease in GCIPLT values post-COVID-19 (p < 0,01 and p = 0,02, respectively). In addition, MD value was higher in inpatient group (2,72). A significant decrease was observed in ppRNFLT values in inpatient group after COVID-19 infection (p = 0,03). In both groups, the mean C-D ratio was higher post-COVID-19. Conclusion PpRNFLT and GCIPLT values were reduced and IOP and C-D ratio values were increased in glaucoma patients after COVID-19 infection. Infection progression observed to be worse in inpatient group.