A five-year retrospective study of the epidemiological characteristics and visual outcomes of pediatric ocular trauma

Abstract

BackgroundPediatric trauma can lead to serious visual impairment as a result of the trauma itself or secondary to amblyopia. Precise data on epidemiological characteristics and visual outcomes of pediatric ocular injuries are valuable for the prevention of monocular blindness.MethodsA total of 268 cases of pediatric ocular trauma admitted to the Department of Ophthalmology of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Hospital from January 2008 to December 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Data analysed included age, sex, cause, type and treatment of injury, initial and final visual acuity (VA) and tissues involvement. Eye injuries were classified by Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology (BETT) and Ocular Trauma Classification System (OTCS).ResultsThe age of children ranged from 6 months to 17.5 years. Boys were more likely to suffer ocular injury than girls. Home was the leading place of eye injury (60.4%), followed by outdoors (31.7%), school (5.2%) and sporting area (2.2%). The highest percentage of eye injuries in children were caused by blunt (40.3%) and sharp objects (29.9%), followed by burns (9.3%), falls (6.7%), explosions (4.5%), fireworks (4.1%), gunshots (1.9%) and traffic accidents (0.7%). Closed globe injury (CGI) was the most common type of eye injury (53.4%). CGI were noted to be higher in children aged 13–18 years, while open globe injury (OGI) were higher in the pre-school age group. Injury of grade 4 and grade 5 were more common in OGI, while grade 1 and grade 2 predominated in cases of CGI. Hypotony, traumatic cataract, iris laceration, vitreous prolapse and uveitis were the most common presentations of OGI, while hyphema, secondary glaucoma and retinal edema were significantly related with CGI. Final diagnoses contributing to poor final visual outcome such as corneal scar corneal opacity, hypotony, aphakia, and retinal detachment were statistically significant related only with OGI. Overall, 65.63% of children regained good visual acuity (VA ≥ 0.5), but for 18.4% of them, the trauma resulted in severe visual impairment (VA ≤ 0.1).ConclusionOcular trauma in children still remains an important preventable cause of ocular morbidity. This study provides data indicating that ophthalmological injuries are a significant cause of visual impairment in children.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12886-018-0676-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prevalence, Characteristics, and Management of Pediatric Ocular Trauma in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Analysis

“…Our results showed that closed globe injuries were the most common (70%), followed by open globe injuries (21%) and other types (9%). These results are consistent with those of previous studies [ 1 , 5 , 36 , 41 ]. However, Shoja and Miratashi [ 36 ] reported a higher average of open globe injuries than closed globe injuries (51.7% vs. 33%).…”

Prevalence, Characteristics, and Management of Pediatric Ocular Trauma in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Analysis

“…Our results showed that closed globe injuries were the most common (70%), followed by open globe injuries (21%) and other types (9%). These results are consistent with those of previous studies [ 1 , 5 , 36 , 41 ]. However, Shoja and Miratashi [ 36 ] reported a higher average of open globe injuries than closed globe injuries (51.7% vs. 33%).…”

Ocular Trauma in Children

“…We found in our study that the male sex tends to be the subject of an ocular injury, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others, twice more than the females. This finding is also consistent with those from the studies by Sii et al, 21 Puodžiuvienė et al, 13 Gise et al, 22 Li et al, 23 Zepeda-Romero et al, 19 and Karim-Zade et al, 24 whereas several others also reported the male predominance 11,18,20,25–27 . The mentioned predominance is most probably due to the more aggressive nature of the boys' activities, requiring more education on the ways of injury prevention for both the children and their caretakers 28 …”

Paediatric traumatic cataracts in Southwest China: epidemiological profile

“…The sudden drop in the number of cases in 2015 might be partly because a sudden ban on fireworks was enforced. In all age-based groups, traumatic cataracts occurred predominantly in boys, which was consistent with previous findings reported in Shanghai (China )[ 7 ], Lithuania, [ 17 ] and Spain [ 18 ]. These findings could be explained by the more aggressive and violent nature of activities which boys were more likely to be involved in than girls.…”

Prevalence, Characteristics, and Management of Pediatric Ocular Trauma in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Analysis

“…Our results showed that closed globe injuries were the most common (70%), followed by open globe injuries (21%) and other types (9%). These results are consistent with those of previous studies [ 1 , 5 , 36 , 41 ]. However, Shoja and Miratashi [ 36 ] reported a higher average of open globe injuries than closed globe injuries (51.7% vs. 33%).…”

Ocular Trauma in Children

“…We found in our study that the male sex tends to be the subject of an ocular injury, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others, twice more than the females. This finding is also consistent with those from the studies by Sii et al, 21 Puodžiuvienė et al, 13 Gise et al, 22 Li et al, 23 Zepeda-Romero et al, 19 and Karim-Zade et al, 24 whereas several others also reported the male predominance 11,18,20,25–27 . The mentioned predominance is most probably due to the more aggressive nature of the boys' activities, requiring more education on the ways of injury prevention for both the children and their caretakers 28 …”

Paediatric traumatic cataracts in Southwest China: epidemiological profile

“…The sudden drop in the number of cases in 2015 might be partly because a sudden ban on fireworks was enforced. In all age-based groups, traumatic cataracts occurred predominantly in boys, which was consistent with previous findings reported in Shanghai (China )[ 7 ], Lithuania, [ 17 ] and Spain [ 18 ]. These findings could be explained by the more aggressive and violent nature of activities which boys were more likely to be involved in than girls.…”

Prevalence, Characteristics, and Management of Pediatric Ocular Trauma in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Analysis

“…Our results showed that closed globe injuries were the most common (70%), followed by open globe injuries (21%) and other types (9%). These results are consistent with those of previous studies [ 1 , 5 , 36 , 41 ]. However, Shoja and Miratashi [ 36 ] reported a higher average of open globe injuries than closed globe injuries (51.7% vs. 33%).…”

Ocular Trauma in Children

“…We found in our study that the male sex tends to be the subject of an ocular injury, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others, twice more than the females. This finding is also consistent with those from the studies by Sii et al, 21 Puodžiuvienė et al, 13 Gise et al, 22 Li et al, 23 Zepeda-Romero et al, 19 and Karim-Zade et al, 24 whereas several others also reported the male predominance 11,18,20,25–27 . The mentioned predominance is most probably due to the more aggressive nature of the boys' activities, requiring more education on the ways of injury prevention for both the children and their caretakers 28 …”

Paediatric traumatic cataracts in Southwest China: epidemiological profile

“…The sudden drop in the number of cases in 2015 might be partly because a sudden ban on fireworks was enforced. In all age-based groups, traumatic cataracts occurred predominantly in boys, which was consistent with previous findings reported in Shanghai (China )[ 7 ], Lithuania, [ 17 ] and Spain [ 18 ]. These findings could be explained by the more aggressive and violent nature of activities which boys were more likely to be involved in than girls.…”