Week in Review: COVID-19 Vaccine and Corneal Nerve Cells, Hypertension During Pregnancy and Strabismus Risk, Mood Disorders in Myopic Adolescents

A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.

The COVID-19 vaccine may offer protection against the virus’ effects on corneal nerve cells. In this single-center study, patients who were infected with the COVID-19 virus and subsequently received the COVID-19 vaccine (n = 29) were found to have significantly greater corneal nerve fiber, nerve branch, and dendritic cell density than infected, non-vaccinated patients (n = 28) and healthy (non-infected) controls (n = 25). The vaccinated group also had significantly higher corneal nerve fiber area and length compared with the other 2 groups. The authors note that while these clinical findings may be limited, “our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may have a protective effect against the complications of COVID-19 disease on the corneal subbasal nerve fibers.” Scientific Reports

Children could be at increased risk for strabismus if their mothers experienced hypertension during pregnancy. That was the conclusion of an analysis of data from the Jiangsu Birth Cohort Study of 3117 children born to 3005 mothers. While in utero, 143 of the children (4.6%) had been exposed to maternal hypertensive disorder during pregnancy (HDP); these children were found to have an 82% greater risk of developing childhood strabismus than unexposed children. Similar trends were noted for the development of exophoria and intermittent exotropia. The authors acknowledge that there may have been residual confounding (e.g., family history of strabismus) as well as other study limitations, but conclude that “the underlying mechanism of the association between maternal HDP and strabismus in offspring warrants further exploration.” JAMA Network Open

Adolescents with myopia may be more likely to have concomitant anxiety and mood disorders. To understand potential associations between myopia and anxiety and other mood disorders among adolescents (age 16–20 years), investigators in Israel conducted a cross-sectional study using data from evaluations given to more than 891,000 adolescents prior to their mandatory military service. Thirty-one percent were found to have myopia. While only a small percentage of the study population was diagnosed with either anxiety or mood disorders, those with myopia were more likely to have an anxiety or mood disorder diagnosis than those without myopia, with the risk increasing with myopia severity. Eye (London)