EPIDEMIOLOGY OF OCCUPATIONAL AND NON-OCCUPATIONAL EYE INJURIES: CASES TREATED IN FOUR EYE HOSPITALS IN BANGLADESH Authors

Abstract

Introduction: Eye injury is an important cause of preventable vision loss in developing as well as developed countries. There are many risk factors for eye injuries. Eye injuries can occur anywhere at any time to anyone regardless of socio-economic conditions, demographic profile, and situation. The principal objective of our research work was to study the epidemiological profile of occupational and non-occupational ocular injuries in Bangladesh. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on purposively selected 117 eye injury cases from four eye hospitals situated in Dhaka (2), Tangail (1), and Rajshahi (1), Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the study subjects. Results: Respondents’ Mean ± SD age was 29.70± 15.95 years where a maximum (69.2%) of them were male. Secondary-level education was more common among the study subjects (24.8%). A great number of respondents (62.4%) monthly income ranges from 12,000- 30,999 Bangladeshi Taka. Not using/lack of protective measures, carelessness, and road traffic accidents were identified as the leading causes of eye injuries at the workplace, home, and other areas, respectively by most of the participants. On the other hand, maintaining or cleaning instruments at the job place, looking after children at home, and riding vehicles were mentioned as the activities during eye injuries by the highest number of respondents. A statistical significance p < 0.05 was found between eye injuries and participants’ age, gender, occupation, educational qualification, and monthly family income. Conclusion: Eye injuries are more or less common at home, the workplace, and other areas irrespective of epidemiological distribution. Therefore, measures should be taken to eliminate eye injuries at personal, community, and national levels.