key: cord-0828866-kz391f1f
authors: Chaudhry, Zoya; Santhakumaran, Sangeetha; Schwartz, Jake; Toffoli, Daniela
title: Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Ophthalmology in the epicenter of the Canadian outbreak
date: 2022-02-14
journal: Can J Ophthalmol
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcjo.2022.02.007
sha: 7c9ced52ae656f1943ca07ca60bcca20bee8e6e2
doc_id: 828866
cord_uid: kz391f1f

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Authors: Zoya Chaudhry 1 , Sangeetha Santhakumaran 2 , Jake Schwartz 2 , Daniela Toffoli 1 (Table 1 ).

Our study shows that the first pandemic wave resulted in reductions in urgent ophthalmic consultations and surgeries. This corresponds with decreases in pediatric emergency department visits in Quebec, 4 and mirrors results found at a Canadian adult tertiary ophthalmology centre. 5 Possible reasons include fear of acquiring COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders. 2, 6 Additionally there were fewer ocular traumas in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2019, possibly due to cancellation of sports activities. A similar trend was observed in Italy. 7 Further, we observed fewer conjunctivitis cases during 2020 compared to previous periods, as reported in studies including adults, likely due to social distancing and hand hygiene. 3, 6 Reassuringly, patients sought and received ophthalmic care in a timely manner despite such delays being noted in other specialities. 8 Future studies could evaluate the pandemic's impact on pediatric ophthalmology follow-up care.

Diagnoses 

COVID-19 daily epidemiology update (Government of Canada

Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on pediatric eye-related emergency department services

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on eye emergencies

Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Emergency Department Visits: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Retrospective analysis of ophthalmology referrals during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to prepandemic

Functional Fear Predicts Public Health Compliance in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Changing trends of ocular trauma in the time of COVID-19 pandemic. Eye (Lond)

Caregiver-reported delay in presentation to pediatric emergency departments for fear of contracting COVID-19: a multi-national crosssectional study

Dr. Daniela Toffoli is a member of the Sunshine Foundation Medical Advisory Board and is involved in a study for patients with spinomuscular atrophy (Sunfish Clinical Trial -Roche Pharmaceuticals).

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: