Ophthalmic surgeries before and during the covid-19 outbreak in a tertiary hospital

OBJECTIVE: As with any healthcare practice, elective surgeries had to be postponed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the characteristics of ophthalmology outpatients and eye surgery admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic and also to compare the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. METHODS: This retrospective study included patients admitted to the ophthalmology clinic of a tertiary hospital from April through June 2020. A control sample was formed using the registries from the same interval in the previous year. The primary endpoint was the difference between the number and distribution of types of surgical procedures in the pre-pandemic and pandemic period. Surgical procedures were classified as Group A; major special, Group B; special, Group C; major, Group D; medium, and Group E; minor surgeries. Also surgeries were also divided into 4 groups. Cataract and related surgeries were grouped as “Phaco”, emergency surgeries for trauma patients as “Trauma”, retina and related surgeries were grouped as “Retina”, and eyelid and adnexal surgeries were grouped as “Eyelid”. The secondary endpoint was the comparison between the pre-pandemic and pandemic period. RESULTS: A total of 116 operations were performed in 2020 (mean age: 42.3 ± 25.6 years, male: 63.8%). In 2019, 873 surgeries were performed in the same period of the year (mean age: 56.6 ± 20.2 years, male: 48.8%), indicating an 86.7% decrease during the pandemic period, and each surgery type reduced significantly. On the other hand, the proportion of Group A (10.3% in 2019 vs. 25.9% in 2020, p < 0.001), group B (5.4% in 2019–17.24% in 2020, p < 0.001), and group E (3.8% in 2019–8.6% in 2020, p < 0.001) surgeries among the total increased in the pandemic period. The proportion of trauma (3.1% in 2019–16.4% in 2020, p < 0.001) and retina (11.9% in 2019–37.1% in 2020, p < 0.001) surgeries also increased, whereas phaco and eyelid surgeries were recorded at a lesser rate in the pandemic period. CONCLUSION: This study showed a striking reduction in eye surgery during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the rates of group A, B, and E surgeries increased significantly compared to the previous year.