Daily wearers of eyeglasses may be less susceptible to COVID-19

A new report in JAMA Ophthalmology sought to determine the association between wearing glasses daily and the susceptibility of becoming infected with COVID-19.

In this cohort study, a total of 276 patients with COVID-19 in Suizhou Zengdu Hospital, Suizhou, China were included. A total of 15 patients (5.8%) wore glasses for more than 8 hours per day and all had myopia.

According to a previous study, 31.5% of people in Hubei province have myopia, a proportion much higher than those with myopia who had COVID-19 in this cohort.

The authors concluded that the smaller proportion of patients with myopia infected with COVID-19 compared to the general proportion of patients with myopia may suggest that daily wearers of eyeglasses may be less susceptible to infection.

Reference
Zeng W, Wang X, Li J, et al. Association of daily wear of eyeglasses with susceptibility to coronavirus disease 2019 infection. JAMA Ophthalmol. Published online September 16, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2020.3906