Multiprofessional Neurorehabilitation After COVID-19 Infection Should Include Assessment of Visual Function.
Jan Johansson, Richard Levi, Maria Jakobsson and 2 others
PMID 35128374WHAT IT FOUND
Survivors of hospital-treated COVID-19 with vision symptoms frequently had objective eye teaming and movement deficits.
Most had at least one clinical sign. Clinicians should screen for visual dysfunction in post-acute rehabilitation, as these issues often coexist with fatigue and cognitive complaints.
Key findings
0183.3% of patients invited for neuro-visual assessment had at least one clinical sign of visual dysfunction, most commonly reduced convergence facility (66.7%) and reduced fusion vergences at distance (51.3%).
02Patients with vision-related symptoms reported significantly higher rates of coexisting impairments affecting daily life, including difficulty concentrating, headache, and mental fatigue, compared to those without vision symptoms.
03Self-reported reading difficulties were associated with objective deficits in the vestibular-ocular reflex head movement, while dizziness associated with head movement was linked to deficits in eye teaming width.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size for the detailed neuro-visual examination was small (N=42). Participants were selected based on self-reported vision symptoms, which may have led to underreporting in patients with other more troublesome symptoms. The study did not include ophthalmologic examinations or neuroimaging, so ocular health and neurologic diagnoses were not fully assessed. Patients invited for vision assessment were younger and reported higher fatigue than those not invited, which may affect generalizability. The cross-sectional nature of the follow-up prevents determination of causality or temporal progression of visual deficits.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding sources were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that visual symptoms are solely due to the severity of the initial COVID-19 infection. The study found no association between disease severity classification and visual symptoms or clinical signs. These issues appear to be a distinct post-acute sequela affecting a subset of patients regardless of how sick they were initially.