Prevalence of ocular trauma in KLES Hospital: A 1-year cross-sectional study

Abstract

Context: People affected by eye injury often have to face loss of career opportunities, major lifestyle changes, and occasionally permanent disfigurement. Aims: (1) To find the prevalence of ocular trauma in patients attending our hospital. (2) To find the clinical profile of ocular trauma patients and the cause of trauma in them. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at KLE Hospital, Belagavi, Karnataka. Subjects and Methods: The present 1-year study was conducted in the Department of Ophthalmology, KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Belagavi, on 2308 trauma patients presenting to the ophthalmology outpatient department and casualty from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014. Out of 2308 patients, 217 patients were identified to have ocular trauma and were examined in a systematic fashion. Statistical Analysis Used: None. Results: The prevalence rate of ocular trauma was found to be 9.40%. Maximum patients (27.19%) were in the age group of 21-30 years. A total of 182 (83.87%) patients were male and 35 (16.13%) patients were female. Conclusions: Most common cause of ocular trauma was found to be road traffic accidents (RTAs), seen most commonly among males in the age group of 21-30 years. Males are commonly injured in RTA which is probably related to both exposure and risk-taking behavior. Several human and environmental risk factors were found to be associated with increased risk of RTA. Apart from RTA, occupational hazard was the next major cause of ocular trauma. Certain laws and legislations and their strict enforcement can curb these two major causes of ocular trauma.