PRESCRIBING PATTERN OF OCULAR MEDICINES IN OPHTHALMIC MANIFESTATIONS OF COVID-19

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) declared as pandemic in March 2020, by WHO still is a cause of concern worldwide. In the year 2024 also, many cases of COVID-19 are being reported worldwide. The systemic manifestations of COVID-19 vary depending upon its severity but at the same time treating the ophthalmic manifestations of COVID-19 also remained challenging. Thus while knowing the prescribing pattern of ocular medicines in ophthalmic manifestations of COVID-19 will surely improve and upskill the clinical scenario and will enhance the rational use of medicines.

Objective: To assess the prescribing pattern of ocular medicines in patients with ophthalmic manifestations of COVID-19.

Materials and methods: This observational cross-sectional study was carried out in 112 patients having the primary diagnosis of COVID-19 infection confirmed by laboratory findings. The patients who were having COVID-19 and concurrent ocular manifestations on admission were included in the study. The study was conducted in the Ophthalmology Department in collaboration with Pharmacology department of Government Medical College, Jammu, J&K after taking approval from institutional ethics committee. Written informed consent from the patients was taken prior to commencement of the study. The data from all the patients who were enrolled in the study was recorded in the form of sociodemographic characteristics such as age, sex etc. The type of ocular manifestations and the prescribing treatment for the respective ocular condition related to COVID 19 was also recorded. The severity of COVID 19 disease was also done into mild, moderate and severe. The patients who were not willing to participate in the study were excluded from the study. The data was analyzed using the simple descriptive statistics.

Results: Of the 112 patients screened, 98 gave consent to participate in the study while as 14 patients were not willing to participate in the study (response rate was 87.5%). Of the 98 participants, 67 were males whereas 31 were females. The Patients of COVID-19 infection presented with various ophthalmic manifestations. The most common complaint was conjunctivitis in (33.6%) patients. Among the various ophthalmic medications Ribavarin was the most common medicine prescribed in 88.7% of patients.

Conclusion: It can be concluded from the present study that many COVID-19 patients had ocular manifestations and in them the conjunctivitis was the most common ocular symptom and many patients had co-morbiditis also due to which they acquired COVID-19 and various other ophthalmic manifestations of Covid-19 due to the compromised immune status in them