Ocular surface manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a systematic review and meta-analysis

Aggarwal, K. et al. (2020) Ocular surface manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE, 15(11), e0241661. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241661) (PMID:33151999) (PMCID:PMC7643964)

Abstract

Purpose: This study was performed to determine the occurrence of ocular surface manifestations in patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Methods: A systematic search of electronic databases i.e. PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, OVID and Google scholar was performed using a comprehensive search strategy. The searches were current through 31st May 2020. Pooled data from cross-sectional studies was used for meta-analysis and a narrative synthesis was conducted for studies where a meta-analysis was not feasible. Results: A total of 16 studies reporting 2347 confirmed COVID-19 cases were included. Pooled data showed that 11.64% of COVID-19 patients had ocular surface manifestations. Ocular pain (31.2%), discharge (19.2%), redness (10.8%), and follicular conjunctivitis (7.7%) were the main features. 6.9% patients with ocular manifestations had severe pneumonia. Viral RNA was detected from the ocular specimens in 3.5% patients. Conclusion: The most common reported ocular presentations of COVID-19 included ocular pain, redness, discharge, and follicular conjunctivitis. A small proportion of patients had viral RNA in their conjunctival/tear samples. The available studies show significant publication bias and heterogeneity. Prospective studies with methodical collection and data reporting are needed for evaluation of ocular involvement in COVID-19.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Jaiswal, Dr Nishant

Creator Roles

Jaiswal, N.: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Aggarwal, K., Agarwal, A., Jaiswal, N., Dahiya, N., Ahuja, A., Mahajan, S., Tong, L., Duggal, M., Singh, M., Agrawal, R., and Gupta, V.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment
• Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• ISSN (Online): 1932-6203
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Aggarwal et al.
• First Published: First published in PLoS ONE 15(11): e0241661
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License