Changes in the spectrum of ocular disease during the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2022 in the Hubei Province.

We aimed to investigate changes in the ocular disease spectrum during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in late 2022 in the Hubei Province. This retrospective observational study was conducted in two parts. The first part involved collecting COVID-19-related information from residents of Hubei Province through an online questionnaire survey. The second part involved extracting electronic medical records from ophthalmology outpatient departments at two hospitals in Hubei Province during the pandemic and epidemic prevention and control periods, analyzing changes in the spectrum of ocular diseases. In the first part, 31.65% of patients with systemic symptoms of COVID-19 experienced ocular discomfort. The most common ocular symptoms were eye fatigue, ocular pain and dry eye. In the second part, 76.5% of patients who visited the ophthalmic clinic had COVID-19-related systemic symptoms during pandemic period. The proportion of patients with cornea/keratitis, glaucoma/acute angle-closure glaucoma (AACG) and vitreoretinal disease/retinal vein obstruction (RVO)/acute macular neuroretinalpathy (AMN) increased markedly during pandemic period. Additionally, the number of patients under 18 years and over 60 years decreased significantly compared to the same age groups pre- & post-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to certain changes in the spectrum of ocular diseases, which warrants the attention of ophthalmologists.