COVID-19 in the Intravitreal Injection (IVI) Procedure at a Spanish Urban Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the rate of COVID-19 in intravitreal injection (IVI) procedure at the onset of the pandemic.Methods: This transversal, observational and retrospective study included patients treated with IVI, in 3 groups. A: from February 20 to March 15, 2020, a period prior to lockdown and the first preventive measures against viral transmission. B: from March 16 to May 3, after the start of both, and C: from May 4 to June 19, after lockdown. Age, sex, diagnosis, drug, IVI laterality, visual acuity, percentage of single eyes, date of COVID-19 diagnosis, incidence among the Hospital attended population and number of COVID-19 patients admitted daily, were collected.Results: 1049 patients were treated, 564 (53.7%) on two or more occasions. COVID-19 rate was 1.51% (8/529) in group A, 0.21% (1/469) in B and 0% in C (0/926) (p=0.0001). The highest incidence peak x105 inhabitants and the mean daily admission rate, for the periods corresponding to the three groups, were 93.70/7.70 (SD 7.32), 418.72/27.83 (SD 24.68) and 24.58/2.28 (SD 1.97), respectively.Conclusion: The favourable trend in the COVID-19 rate among our patients, after implementing preventive measures against viral transmission, may assist in adequately planning IVI procedure in the future.