Evaluation of the retinal with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in patients with coronavirus (COVID-19) infection

The aim of this study is to compare the optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings of adult and pediatric patients infected COVID 19 and OCTA findings of adult and pediatric healthy volunteers in same demographic characteristics. The right eye of 157 adult patients infected covid , the right eye of 168 healthy adult volunteers, the right eye of 40 children (6-18) patients infected covid, and the right eye of 44 children (6-18 years old) healthy volunteers were included in the study. All groups included in the study underwent eye examination and OCTA was taken. OCTA findings were evaluated. Retinal deep capillary blood flow area (RDCCAA) values were significantly higher in the pediatric covid-affected group (CCGG) than in the pediatric healthy control group (CSCG) (p=0.001). Deep nasal density (DND), deep inferior density (DID), and deep parafoveal density (DPD) were significantly lower in MCDD than in MCCG (p=0.034, p=0.029, p=0.022, respectively). On the other hand, RPKVD intradental measurements were significantly higher in MCDD compared to MCCG (p=0.025). There was no significant difference between the OCTA measurements of the adult covid group (ECGG) and the adult healthy control (ESCG) group. In our study, significant differences were found in OCTA measurements between the covid group and the healthy control group in children. Retinal microvascular changes may occur in patients with covid infection, and these patients can be followed up for long-term retinal changes. Keywords: Coronavirus, Optical coherence tomography angiography, Foveal avascular area, Retina