Abstract Details

We sought to describe post-acute symptoms of COVID-19 (PASC)-related visual symptoms in a cohort of non-hospitalized individuals presenting to our outpatient neurology practices and undergoing vision-specific quality of life assessments.

Participants completed standardized and well-validated vision-specific quality of life questionnaires, including the 25-Item National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) and the 10-Item Neuro-Ophthalmic Supplement to the NEI-VFQ-25 (NOS).  Patient scores were compared to those of disease-free controls within the same age groups.  

Among 50 participants reporting persistent COVID-related symptoms more than 6 weeks after acute illness, the average age was 49.3 ± 14.6 years; 33/50 (65%) were female.  Symptoms reported by patients were mostly general and not  visual.  However, vision-specific quality of life scores were significantly lower than values for normal healthy controls with no history of neurological or ophthalmological disease (p<0.0001 for both the NEI-VFQ-25 and NOS composite scores, two-sample t-tests).  Mean NEI-VFQ-25 composite score was 89.5 ± 12.7 compared to 98.2 ± 2.1 for healthy controls.  Mean NOS score was 82.7 ±  16.0 compared to 96.5 ± 5.2 for controls.

People with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19  (PASC) in a neurology outpatient practice, even among those without visual symptoms that bring them to medical attention, report persistent visual  quality of life impairment.  These data support the inclusion of vision-specific outcome measures and symptom scales in studies of PASC, and confirm that COVID-19 infection may impair visual function.