Visual field changes in glaucoma patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in a middle-income country

ABSTRACT

Background

To assess the possible effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the progression of visual field in glaucoma patients attending a charity hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Research design and methods

This retrospective study included all glaucoma patients attending the Glaucoma Service Santa Casa of Sao Paulo from July 2019 to October 2021. Data retrieved from the charts included intraocular pressure (IOP), information about missing appointments and non-adherence to medical treatment, mean deviation (MD), and pattern standard deviation (PSD) of Humphrey visual field. Pre- and late in-pandemic data were compared with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Results

There was no statistically significant difference between pre- and in-pandemic values of MD, and PSD values (all P > 0.05). Fifty eyes (27.9%) of 36 patients (36%) revealed an −2 dB decrease in the MD value.

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic did not affect visual field progression in most of patients. However, about a third of patients presented a decrease in the MD value >-2 dB in at least one eye especially those with advanced disease. As a slowly progressive optic neuropathy, the two-year time of the pandemic was possibly not long enough to impact negatively on the glaucoma progression in most of patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Glaucoma
• COVID-19
• visual field
• perimetry
• glaucoma progression

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

D Beutinger has made a significant contribution in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation and has drafted the article. C Caixeta-Umbelino has made a significant contribution in the conception, study design, analysis, and interpretation and has critically reviewed the article. N Kasahara has made a significant contribution in the conception, study design, analysis, and interpretation and has written the article. All authors have agreed on the journal to which the article will be submitted; have reviewed and agreed on all versions of the article before submission, during revision, the final version accepted for publication; and have agreed to take responsibility and be accountable for the contents of the article and to share responsibility to resolve any questions raised about the accuracy or integrity of the published work.

Ethics approval

The authors state that the Institution’s Ethics Committee for Research approved the study which was conducted according to the precepts of the Declaration of Helsinki, 1964, and its late amendments. Given the non-interventional retrospective nature of the study, informed consent was not required, and the ethics committee approved of this waiver.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.