Objective:

To determine the perception of the level of risk of infection by COVID-19 in the performance of ophthalmologic procedures.

Methods:

Seventy ophthalmology professionals from Holguin province, Cuba were surveyed. A questionnaire with Likert-type questions (scale 1 to 5) was applied to evaluate 26 ophthalmologic procedures.

Results:

Respondents (average age 40.5 ± 2.6 years; average time in Ophthalmology 13.0 ± 2.6 years; female gender 75.7 %) included 45 specialists (64.3 %), 18 residents (25.7 %) and 7 optometrists (10.0 %). The average assessment of the risk of COVID-19 infection attributed to ophthalmologic procedures was 3.63 ± 0.14, significantly higher than the central value of the scale (p<0.0001). No significant relationship was found between the evaluation and the variables age (p=0.80), sex (p=0.24), time linked to Ophthalmology (p=0.98) and care category (p=0.08). The procedure considered to be of higher risk was direct ophthalmoscopy (p<0.001); and those of lower risk: Ishihara test, and visual field (octopus and tangent screen).

Conclusions:

Ophthalmologic procedures are considered high risk for COVID-19 infection. Those that require greater proximity, contact with the ocular surface and tears were considered to be of higher risk, firstly direct ophthalmoscopy. There is no adequate perception of the risk involved in air tonometry. Those that avoid direct contact and maintain distance were considered less risky.

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