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  • Impact of delayed diagnoses at the time of COVID-19: increased rate of preventable bilateral blindness in giant cell arteritis

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Letter
Impact of delayed diagnoses at the time of COVID-19: increased rate of preventable bilateral blindness in giant cell arteritis
  1. Sara Monti,
  2. Paolo Delvino,
  3. Elisa Bellis,
  4. Alessandra Milanesi,
  5. Fabio Brandolino,
  6. Carlomaurizio Montecucco
  1. Rheumatology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Lombardia, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sara Monti, Rheumatology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy; sara.saramonti{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217915

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    The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 has significantly challenged hospitals surge capacity and the perceived priorities for medical investigations performed to diagnose or monitor other diseases.1 2 Recent studies have reported increased mortality in out-of-hospital acute coronary syndromes, not fully explained by COVID-19 cases alone, and potentially related to the patients’ reluctance to seek medical care out of fear of the infection threat.3 4 Moreover, in the field of rheumatological disorders, general systemic symptoms, often evaluated by telephone triage, might be wrongly attributed to COVID-19, leading to delayed referral to specialist attention. The consequences of delayed diagnosis in rheumatology can be particularly evident in giant cell arteritis (GCA), leading to the most dreaded complication of the disease: irreversible visual loss. The aim of this analysis …

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Josef S Smolen

    • Contributors SM and CM contributed to the design of the study and manuscript preparation. PD and SM collected and analysed the data and revised the manuscript. EB, AM, FB contributed to the collection of data and manuscript review.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.