Epidemiology of eye injuries in a high-income developing country

Abstract

Vision loss following eye trauma is a serious health problem worldwide. The aim of the study was to report the epidemiology of eye injury that requires hospitalization and surgery at a secondary referral center in a high-income developing country so as to give recommendations regarding its prevention. All patients who had an eye injury that required surgical intervention between 2012 and 2017 at Al-Ain Hospital were retrospectively studied. Demography, cause of injury, and visual acuity before and after treatment were studied. Results revealed that 141 patients were operated, 96 eyes with open globe and 48 with other injuries. The median (IQR) age was 25 (11.5–37) years, 89% were males. Majority of injuries occurred at work (50.4%) followed by home (31.2%). Sharp objects (24.1%) and blunt trauma (16.3%) were the most common mechanism of injury. Eye injury was less during the weekends (Friday and Saturday) and during the summer vacation. Cornea injuries (48.2%) were the most frequent cause for visual acuity deterioration followed by lens/cataract (23.4%). Among injured eyes, 30 eyes (21.3%) retained intraocular foreign bodies. There was significant improvement of the visual acuity after surgery ( P < .0001, Wilcoxon signed rank test). Our study has shown that eye injury is a major risk for visual loss of young people which is mainly work-related. Use of personal protective equipment for the eyes and adopting legislative eye safety regulations will reduce the impact of eye injuries in our community.

<p>Epidemiology of Eye Injuries Resulting in Hospitalization, a Referral Hospital-Based Study</p>

“…A total of 249 patients, with a median (range) follow-up period of 7.8 (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) months, were included in this study. Two hundred and twenty-seven (91.2%) were males with an age range from 2 to 79 years, while 22 (8.8%) were females with an age range from 1 to 76 years.…”

“…Consistent with other publications, this study observed that males were a more vulnerable gender for hospitalized eye injury, regardless of requiring medical treatment and/or surgical intervention, compared to females. [4][5][6][9][10][11] However, the difference in patterns of age distribution among genders was noted. A study in South-Central China by Wang et al reported that the most prevalent eye injuries in males were distributed in the 41 to 50-year-old age group, while in a range of 1 to 10-year-old in females.…”

Personal protective eyewear usage among industrial workers in small-scale enterprises

“…Ocular injury is a common cause of blindness worldwide (Pizzarello 1998 ; Lombardi et al 2005 ; Fea et al 2008 ). Around 60% of these injuries occur in the workplace (AlMahmoud et al 2019a ; Fea et al 2008 ). Personal Protective Eyewear (PPE) is highly effective in preventing eye injury if appropriate selections are made available and effectively used (Lipscomb 2000 ; Mancini et al 2005 ; Forst et al 2006 ; Zgambo 2015 ).…”

“…There is limited information available regarding work-related eye hazards, level of awareness and utilization of PPE among workers in small-scale industrial settings in developing countries. We recently reported the epidemiology of eye injury necessitating surgery in our setting (AlMahmoud et al 2019a ). This study covered hospitalized patients and it represented the tip of an iceberg of preventable eye injury (AlMahmoud et al 2019a ; AlMahmoud et al 2000a ; AlMahmoud et al 2019b ).…”

Características epidemiológicas de los traumatismos oculares en un instituto oftalmológico de referencia regional, Trujillo Perú, 2016 - 2017

“…En Hong Kong, la incidencia anual de lesiones oculares ocupacionales es de aproximadamente 8 000 casos por año -o su equivalente, 125 casos por cada 100 000 habitantes-, los que representan al 8 % de todas las lesiones ocupacionales registradas en hospitales seleccionados [6] . Además, se estima que el costo anual de hospitalizaciones asociados a los traumatismos oculares ocupacionales alcanza los 155 millones de dólares en Australia y 200 millones de dólares en los Estados Unidos [7] . Llama la atención un reporte en Surinam que menciona que los traumas oculares abiertos son los más frecuentes en infantes [8] .…”