ArticleThe British journal of ophthalmology2022
Corneal confocal microscopy identifies corneal nerve fibre loss and increased dendritic cells in patients with long COVID.
Article in The British journal of ophthalmology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- TFOS lifestyle: Impact of societal challenges on the ocular surface.The ocular surface · 2023Pooled it
- Long-term ocular symptoms following COVID-19 linked to immune dysregulation, dysautonomia and peripheral neuropathy.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A systematic scoping review and conceptual analysis of new-onset fibromyalgia manifestations after non-hospitalized COVID-19: empirics, definitions, methodologies, pathophysiology, mapping of literature, and knowledge gaps.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Large-area 3D reconstruction of corneal tissues from oscillating focus confocal microscopy.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Ocular Symptoms as a Marker of Dysautonomia in Long-COVID Patients: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Deep learning-based segmentation and density estimation of corneal nerves and dendritic cells from In Vivo confocal microscopy images.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Quantitative assessment of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 and optic pathway glioma using in vivo confocal microscopy.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- An overview of clinical presentation and management of long COVID.The Nurse practitioner · 2025Review
- Corneal confocal microscopy: a novel biomarker of small fibre neuropathy in SLE.Lupus science & medicine · 2025Article
- Insights into potential therapeutic approaches for long COVID.Frontiers of medicine · 2025Article
- Neuroimmune pathophysiology of long COVID.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Review
- Ocular and Neurological Sequelae in Long COVID: Dry Eye, Asthenopia, Sleep Disorders, Asthenia, and Restless Legs Syndrome-A Case Report with Literature Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Corneal neurotization meets COVID-19: a case report of minimally invasive corneal neurotization complicated by COVID-19-related keratitis.Journal of ophthalmic inflammation and infection · 2025Article
- COVID-19 and neuropathy in type 2 diabetes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cornea Oculomics: A Clinical Blueprint for Extending Corneal Diagnostics and Artificial Intelligence in Systemic Health Insights.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Post-COVID-19 Small Fiber Neuropathy as a New Emerging Quality of Life-Threatening Disease: A Systematic Review.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Article
- Small fiber neuropathy in the post-COVID condition and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical significance and diagnostic challenges.European journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Vaccination and COVID-19: impact on long-COVID.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
aimsLong COVID is characterised by a range of potentially debilitating symptoms which develop in at least 10% of people who have recovered from acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study has quantified corneal sub-basal nerve plexus morphology and dendritic cell (DC) density in patients with and without long COVID.
methodsForty subjects who had recovered from COVID-19 and 30 control participants were included in this cross-sectional comparative study undertaken at a university hospital. All patients underwent assessment with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) long COVID, Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4) and Fibromyalgia questionnaires, and corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) to quantify corneal nerve fibre density (CNFD), corneal nerve branch density (CNBD), corneal nerve fibre length (CNFL), and total, mature and immature DC density.
resultsThe mean time after the diagnosis of COVID-19 was 3.7±1.5 months. Patients with neurological symptoms 4 weeks after acute COVID-19 had a lower CNFD (p=0.032), CNBD (p=0.020), and CNFL (p=0.012), and increased DC density (p=0.046) compared with controls, while patients without neurological symptoms had comparable corneal nerve parameters, but increased DC density (p=0.003). There were significant correlations between the total score on the NICE long COVID questionnaire at 4 and 12 weeks with CNFD (ρ=-0.436; p=0.005, ρ=-0.387; p=0.038, respectively) and CNFL (ρ=-0.404; p=0.010, ρ=-0.412; p=0.026, respectively).
conclusionCorneal confocal microscopy identifies corneal small nerve fibre loss and increased DCs in patients with long COVID, especially those with neurological symptoms. CCM could be used to objectively identify patients with long COVID.
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