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Year One of COVID-19 Pandemic: Effect on Presentation of Patients With Glaucoma in a Multi-Tier Ophthalmology Network in India

Objective To describe the demographics and clinical profile of patients with glaucoma presenting during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown and unlock phases in India. Methods This retrospective hospital-based comparative study included patients presenting between March 25, 2017, and March 31, 2021. All patients who presented with glaucoma disorders were included as cases. The demographic and clinical data of these glaucoma patients were collected using an electronic medical record system. Results Overall, 34,419 patients (mean 47 per day) diagnosed with glaucoma diseases presented to the network and were included for analysis. The mean age of the patients was 54.16 ± 18.74 years and most were male (n=21,140; 61.42%) from the urban region (n=12,871;37.4%). On categorizing based on the timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the patients presented pre-COVID-19 (n=29,122; 84.61%), followed by a minority (n=175; 0.51%) during the lockdown and the rest (n=5,122; 14.88%) during unlock phase. An increasing number of patients with secondary glaucoma (n=82; 46.86%) and presenting from the local intra-city (n=82; 46.86%) was seen during the lockdown. There was a 6.6-fold increase in neovascular glaucoma and a 2.7-fold increase in lens induced glaucoma during the lockdown phase ((p<0.001) for both). There was a significant increase in subjects in 4th decade (p<0.03) and a decrease in subjects in 7th decade (p<0.008) during the lockdown period. Conclusion The presentation of patients with glaucoma disorders to the hospital is evolving due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The footfalls of patients during the unlock regained to two-thirds of the pre COVID-19 level. During the lockdown, the older patients were less, there was an increase in younger patients and those with secondary glaucoma, and the majority presenting from within the city.