Epidemiological pattern of ocular trauma ( retrospective study)

Abstract

Introduction Worldwide interest in the field of ocular trauma is rapidly growing as increasingly effective techniques for its prevention and treatment are being developed. Ocular trauma is often disabling and involves enormous costs to both the victim and society. Objective The objective of this study was to review the epidemiology of serious ocular trauma in patients presenting at Kasr El Aini Hospital, Cairo University. Design This study is a retrospective epidemiological study. Patients and methods This is a retrospective epidemiological study on ocular trauma patients admitted to Kasr El Aini Hospital during a 1-year period (2008). Patients were analyzed with respect to the following: (a) demographics, (b) time, place, activity during trauma, and cause of trauma, and (c) findings from examination. Results A total of 510 patients (five bilateral injuries) sustaining serious ocular injury, requiring hospitalization, were included during the study period. Sixty-five percent of ocular trauma occurred in men with an average age of 23 years. There were 415 (81.3%) open-globe injuries and 95 (18.7%) closed-globe injuries. Of patients with open-globe injuries, 40% had a corneal wound, 6.6% had a limbal wound, 24% had a scleral wound, 27.8% had a corneoscleral wound, 37% had iris prolapse, 20.5% had traumatic hyphema, 29.4% had traumatic cataract, and 9.8% had an intraocular foreign body. Conclusion The majority of ocular trauma cases in our population was due to violence-related injuries, occurring mainly in male patients.