European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

THE RISK OF OPTIC NEURITIS IN PATIENTS WITH RECENT COVID-19 INFECTION

Mai M. Hakooz MRCSEd*, Manar L. Barhoom MD, Zaineh A. Shawareb MRCSEd, Ghayda A. Aldurgham MD and Myrna M. Almadani MS

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To investigate the association of optic neuritis and COVID-19 infection at King Hussein Medical Center of the Royal Medical Services. Patients and methods: A retrospective comparative study for patients who attended neuro ophthalmology clinic during two periods; each of one year duration. The first period is before the COVID-19 pandemic between June 2018 and June 2019 (group 1), and the second is during the pandemic between June 2020 and June 2021 (group 2). Data compared in the two groups included the total number and percentage of optic neuritis cases attended the neuro ophthalmology clinic and whether these cases are sporadic or associated with multiple sclerosis. Results: The total number of patients in group 1 was 2164 patients; among them 52 patients (2.4%) had attack of optic neuritis of which one third of them were diagnosed to have multiple sclerosis. In group 2 the total number of patients was 803 patients. Seventy two of them (9%) had optic neuritis and almost one third of them were diagnosed to have multiple sclerosis. Conclusion: The risk of optic neuritis attack increased in patients who had COVID-19 infection especially in those known to have multiple sclerosis.

Keywords: Optic neuritis, COVID-19, multiple sclerosis.