Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic Related National Lockdown On Morphology Of Cataracts At A Tertiary Eye Care Centre In South India

Published 2022 - 40th Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: FPM05.04 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/gyhb-4h04

Authors: Sushank Ashok Bhalerao* ¹ , Pratik Gogri ² , Sowjanya Vuyyuru ³ , Uma Thigale ³

¹Cornea and Anterior Segment,L V Prasad Eye Institute,Vijayawada,India;Cornea and Anterior Segment,L V Prasad Eye Institute,Vijayawada,India;Cornea and Anterior Segment,L V Prasad Eye Institute,Vijayawada,India;Cornea and Anterior Segment,L V Prasad Eye Institute,Vijayawada,India, ²L V Prasad Eye Institute,Hyderabad,India, ³Cornea and Anterior Segment,L V Prasad Eye Institute,Vijayawada,India

Purpose

To study changing trend in morphology of cataracts at a tertiary eye care centre in South India due to COVID-19 pandemic related national lockdown.

Setting

Tertiary eye care centre in Andhra Pradesh state of south India

Methods

The retrospective study included 1724 patients(1753 eyes) who underwent cataract surgery at our centre during months of April 2019 to July 2019(1298 eyes of 1271 patients) and April 2020 to July 2020(455 eyes of 453 patients).Factors studied were preoperative lens status, associated phacodonesis or subluxation, pupil size, other eye lens status, associated retinal problems, glaucoma and complications during surgery. Post-operative uncorrected visual acuity(UCVA),best-corrected visual acuity(BCVA),corneal clarity, intraocular pressure(IOP) and disc status at postoperative day 1, 1 week and 1 month visits were compared.

Results

A significantly lower proportion of nuclear sclerosis (decreased from 83.2% in last year before lockdown to 55.2% during lockdown) and significantly higher proportions of mature, brown, or black cataract and phacomorphic, phacolytic, or Morgagnian cataract (increased from 15.5% in last year before lockdown to 43.8% during lockdown) were observed. The proportion of small‑incision cataract surgery decreased significantly (from 63.2% to 57.4%), whereas the proportion of phacoemulsification increased significantly (from 35.9% to 41.5%) during lockdown as compared to last year. A significantly higher proportion of eyes with small pupils and association with retinal pathology were also observed during the lockdown.

Conclusions

During the national lockdown, there was a shift from nuclear sclerosis grade toward mature, brown, black grade of cataracts. In addition, the proportion of small‑incision cataract surgery decreased significantly whereas the proportion of phacoemulsification increased significantly during the lockdown. More number of cataracts with small pupils and associated retinal pathology were observed during the lockdown.