Causes and visual outcome of childhood eye injuries in Nigeria

Abstract

SUMMARYTwo hundred and twenty-eight children of both sexes (152 males and 76 females) aged between 1 and 15 years treated for eye injuries at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria were studied. The injuries were commonly sustained during domestic activities (29.8%), at play or sports (23.7%), in the schoolroom (16.7%) and during farm work (10.1 %). Causative agents were mostly sticks, followed by stone missiles and other flying objects. There was a general delay in reporting to hospital in all types and degrees of severity of injuries, with only 28.5% reporting in the first 24 hours and as many as 10.5% after 1 month. How quickly the patient came to hospital was determined more by social and economic factors than by sex, age and type of injury. Visual outcome was best in patients with mild non-penetrating injuries and worst in those with severe penetrating injuries.Amongst the latter the outcome was worse when the posterior segment was involved than when the injury involved only the anterior segment. Our study showed that there has been a change in the causation of childhood eye injuries in the country compared with reports of 25 years ago. The visual outcome in our patients was worse than in reports from developed countries. This was due mainly to delay in seeking specialist treatment and lack of sophistication of the treatment, especially in severe cases.Eye injury is an important cause of unilateral visual impairment and blindness worldwide/ the incidence being highest among children?In Nigeria, studies on childhood eye injuries3-5 have concentrated mainly on aetiological factors and types of injuries. The most comprehensive of such studies was that by Olurin3 20 years ago, in which she reported that most of the injuries occurred while the

Penetrating eye injuries in South African children: aetiology and visual outcome

“…The male-to-female ratio (2 : 1) in this study is one of the lowest reported in the literature. 12 In developed countries, the ratio is higher at between 4 : 1 4,5,17,18 and 5 : 1. 19 This difference may relate to differences in activities, age distribution, and socioeconomic status.…”

“…Epidemiological data pertaining to childhood penetrating eye injuries in developed countries have been published, [8][9][10][11] but there are few studies of the situation in Africa. [12][13][14] In South Africa, no current data are available with which accurately to assess the importance of ocular trauma in children in terms of frequency, distribution, and impact on vision.…”

Motorcycle related ocular injuries in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria.

“…Ocular trauma has been shown to be one of the major causes of mono-ocular visual loss, low vision and blindness worldwide with s i g n i f i c a n t s o c i o -e c o n o m i c 2,3,4,5,6,7 consequences. A lot of changes have taken place in our environment in recent times.…”

Eye injuries in children the Sagamu experience

“…Ocular injuries represent approximately 4-20% of all eye injuries 3 and is a significant cause of corneal scarring which is the most common cause of childhood blindness in developing countries. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of ocular injuries in children can help reduce morbidity however most cases have been found to report late to the hospitals 3,4,5,6 . Also even after treatment, visual acuity may not improve in affected children because of amblyopia.…”