Questionnaire about the impact of the pandemic on strabismus and amblyopia care in Latin America

Objective: To identify the behavior and opinion of doctors dedicated to strabismus and amblyopia care regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.The concern about treatment delay in patients already diagnosed with strabismus and amblyopia, as well as the difficulty for the comprehensive study of new cases, has been the basis for the application of the questionnaire aimed at Latin American countries. Methods: A questionnaire of 11 items was prepared for physicians who attend strabismus and amblyopia cases from Latin American countries. The Google Drive platform was used, with the graphic elements under descriptive statistics and an exposure time from October 9-12, 2020. These results were partially reported during the webinar of the European Strabismological Association and International Strabismological Association: Impact of COVID-19 on strabismus management around the world, October 18, 2020. Results: We obtained 158 responses from 14 countries: Mexico 37%, Argentina 19%, Venezuela 14%, Colombia 13%, Peru 5%, Chile 3%, Ecuador 2%, and Brazil, Paraguay, El Salvador, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Republic Dominican and Guatemala 1%. Conclusions: The questionnaire on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the concern of Latin American countries regarding the difficulty in monitoring patients with strabismus and amblyopia;but with greater severity in the new and silenced cases happening right now, and that the situations around confinement, economy, and difficulty of access to health services, can be compromising health in a dangerous way.