Clinical patterns of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment during the first state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic in a Tokyo center

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is disturbing and overwhelming a regular medical care in the world. We evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) during the state of emergency for COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. We also reviewed measures against the COVID-19 pandemic in our institute with a focus on RRD treatment. Retrospectively, patients who underwent initial RRD surgery during the state of emergency between April 7, 2020 and May 25, 2020 were included. For comparison, we recruited patients who underwent surgery for initial RRD during the same period in the last 2 years (2018 and 2019). Data related to the number of surgeries, age, gender, macular detachment, proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), preoperative visual acuity, surgical techniques, the time between the onset and hospitalization and/or surgery of the 2020 cohort were analyzed and compared with those of the 2018 and 2019 cohorts. Furthermore, we reviewed measures taken against COVID-19 in our institute. The number of RRD patients during the state of emergency tended to be lower than that within the last 2 years. Relatively lesser female (vs. male) patients were observed in the 2020 cohort than in the last 2 years (P = 0.084). In contrast, among all cohorts, no significant differences were observed in the incidence of macula-off and PVR, preoperative visual acuity, and the time period between symptom onset and hospitalization and/or surgery. This is the first report to show the clinical patterns of RRD during COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Despite the state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic, no delay in the patient's initial visit to the hospital and surgery was observed. Further studies, including multicenter researches, are important for investigating the influence of COVID-19 on urgent ocular diseases.