@article {Butte000854, author = {Gibran F Butt and James Hodson and Graham R Wallace and Saaeha Rauz and Philip I Murray}, title = {Public perceptions of eye symptoms and hospital services during the first UK lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic: a web survey study}, volume = {6}, number = {1}, elocation-id = {e000854}, year = {2021}, doi = {10.1136/bmjophth-2021-000854}, publisher = {BMJ Specialist Journals}, abstract = {Objective This study aimed to explore the British public{\textquoteright}s healthcare-seeking beliefs concerning eye symptoms, and assess how the first COVID-19 lockdown influenced these.Methods and analysis An anonymous web-based survey was disseminated through mailing lists and social media between June and August 2020. The survey sought participants{\textquoteright} views on the severity and urgency of the need for medical review for four ophthalmic and two general medical scenarios on a five-point scale. Participants were asked to answer questions twice: once ignoring the COVID-19 pandemic, and once taking this into account, with additional questions asked to identify factors influencing the decision to seek medical attention and ward admission.Results A total of 402 participants completed the survey (mean age 61.6 years, 63.1\% female and 87.7\% of white ethnicity). Scores for symptom severity and urgency of medical review increased significantly with the severity of the clinical scenario (both p\<0.001). However, participants gave significantly lower scores for the urgency of medical attention when accounting for the COVID-19 pandemic (compared with no pandemic) for all scenarios (all p\<0.001). Younger age, greater deprivation and non-white ethnicity were correlated with a lower perception of seriousness and urgency of medical attention.Conclusions During the first UK lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduced urgency of medical review for ocular and systemic pathologies was reported in response to the pandemic, which represents a barrier to healthcare-seeking behaviour. This has the potential to critically delay medical review and timely management, negatively impacting patient outcomes.Data are available upon reasonable request.}, URL = {https://bmjophth.bmj.com/content/6/1/e000854}, eprint = {https://bmjophth.bmj.com/content/6/1/e000854.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Open Ophthalmology} }