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. 2021 Dec 31;28(3):180-183.
doi: 10.4103/meajo.meajo_306_21. eCollection 2021 Jul-Sep.

Virtual Consultation for Red Eye: Accuracy Assessment in a Primary Care Center

Raseel A Awad  1 , Gorka Sesma  2 , Suhaib Y Neyaz  3 , Khabir Ahmad  2 , Seham S Al Hemaidi  4 , Abdulaziz H Awad  2
Affiliations

Virtual Consultation for Red Eye: Accuracy Assessment in a Primary Care Center

Raseel A Awad et al. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of teleexamination of red eye by a trained general practitioner (GP) compared to the gold standard (in-office consultation by an ophthalmologist).

Methods: This was a study of diagnostic accuracy. We included consecutive male or female patients aged ≥6 months who presented to a primary care clinic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with red eye. All the patients were initially evaluated by a trained GP using a standardized checklist and consulted virtually with an ophthalmologist. This was followed by an in-office eye examination conducted at a well-equipped ophthalmology clinic by a well-trained ophthalmologist. Data were analyzed using STATA 17.0 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX, USA).

Results: A total of 54 patients with red eye presented to the primary care clinic during September-November 2021 and were initially examined virtually and then in-office. The mean age of the patients was 39.72 ± 21.70 years (range 5-90 years). Thirty-three patients (61.1%) were males. The most common cause of red eye was conjunctivitis (46.3%) followed by dry eye (31.5%). There was a significant association between viral conjunctivitis and age (P < 0.001), and between dry eye and age (P = 0.002). Tele eye examination accurately identified the etiology of red eye in all 54 patients.

Conclusion: Telemedicine has the potential to correctly diagnose patients with red eye and can result in a substantial decrease in the number of people visiting the health-care centers.

Keywords: Diagnostic accuracy; red eye; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Causes of red eye among participants (n= 52)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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