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TOPLINE:

A binational study of over 30 million people in South Korea and Japan found that COVID was associated with an increased long-term risk for developing certain ophthalmic conditions, such as glaucoma, diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva, retinopathy, uveitis, neuro-ophthalmic diseases, and blepharitis. Some of these increased risks persisted beyond 18 months after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and were higher in individuals with severe illness.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a binational population-based cohort study using data from South Korea and Japan to evaluate the association between COVID and the risk for developing multiple ophthalmic diseases.
• The study included adults aged 20 years or older with SARS‑CoV‑2 infection identified during 2020-2022 and compared matched groups of individuals with and without COVID in South Korea (2,020,625 in each group) and Japan (344,217 in each group).
• The mean age of patients with COVID in South Korea was 52.49 years, and 59.35% were men.
• The primary outcome was the incidence of the following six eye diseases occurring 30 days or more after COVID: glaucoma, diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva, retinopathy, uveitis, neuro‑ophthalmic diseases, and blepharitis.

TAKEAWAY:

• In the South Korean cohort, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with increased risk for any ophthalmic disease (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.23; 95% CI, 1.22-1.25), glaucoma (aHR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.19-1.23), diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva (aHR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.21-1.23), retinopathy (aHR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.15-1.18), uveitis (aHR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.22), neuro-ophthalmic diseases (aHR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.06-1.15), and blepharitis (aHR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.17-1.22).
• Moderate-to-severe COVID was associated with higher risks for certain ophthalmic diseases than mild COVID, including retinopathy (aHR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.16-1.60 vs aHR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.15-1.18) and neuro-ophthalmic diseases (aHR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.35-2.83 vs aHR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.06-1.15).
• The risk for ophthalmic diseases gradually decreased over time but remained statistically significant beyond 18 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection for any eye disease (aHR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.05-1.26), glaucoma (aHR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.04-1.33), diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva (aHR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.05-1.37), retinopathy (aHR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.10-1.52), and blepharitis (aHR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.09-1.42). The associations between SARS-CoV-2 infection and ophthalmic disease risk were generally consistent across the pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron variant periods.
• The findings were generally consistent in the Japanese cohort.

IN PRACTICE:

“Given that individuals with severe COVID-19 exhibited a higher risk of developing postacute ophthalmic diseases, greater clinical attention and targeted management may be warranted for this group,” the researchers reported. “Although the risk of ophthalmic diseases attenuated over time, it remained detectable beyond 18 months after infection, indicating the need for continued ophthalmic surveillance after the acute phase of COVID-19.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jee Myung Yang, of the University of Ulsan College of Medicine, and Hayeon Lee and Jaeyu Park, of the Medical Science Research Institute at Kyung Hee University Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea. It was published online on May 18 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

LIMITATIONS:

Limited data on individual viral loads may have affected how accurately infection severity was assessed. Residual confounding from unmeasured factors may still be present. The study relied on administrative claims and diagnostic codes, which may have led to misclassification or overdiagnosis.

DISCLOSURES:

This research received support from grants provided by the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology of Korea, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea. The authors disclosed having no relevant financial conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.