Pattern and clinical profile of patients with ocular trauma presenting to the emergency department of a teaching hospital in India: A prospective observational study

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: One major contributor to avoidable ocular morbidity is ocular trauma (OT). The study aimed to document the epidemiological factors, pattern of injury, and outcome among patients with OT presenting to the emergency department (ED).

METHODS: This was a prospective observational study conducted in the ED of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Eastern India after due approval from the institutional ethics committee. The data were collected during the period from March 2021 to February 2022. Data pertaining to age, sex, type of injury, mechanism of injury, time and place of injury, details of tissue involvement, visual acuity, any prior history of injury, initial diagnosis, and management were noted. To estimate the severity of the injury and the probable visual outcome, we calculated through OT score (OTS), including one raw score and OTS. Statistical analysis was performed using the R, version 4.6.1.

RESULTS: A total of 180 patient’s data were included for final analysis. The median (interquartile range) age of the patients was 32 (24–45) years. The majority were males (n = 147 [81.6%]) with a male–female ratio of 4.5:1. Road traffic accidents (RTA) were the common cause of injury (n = 122 [67.7%]). Unilateral eye involvement was the most common (n = 147 [81.6%]). In the pattern of injury, most of the patients sustained closed globe injuries (CGIs) (n = 158 [87.7%]). Among the CGIs, injury to the ocular adnexa and conjunctiva (n = 141 and 127, respectively) was the most common. Injury to the retina and choroids occurred in 20 (11%) patients. The vision was not affected in most of the cases (n = 125 [69.4%]) with a visual acuity of > 6/18. The majority (n = 120 [67%]) of the patients had an OTS of grade-4, followed by grade-2 (n = 22 [12%]). Most of the patients required only medical management (n = 100 [56%]), whereas 77 (43%) patients required surgical interventions.

CONCLUSION: OT was a common presentation in the ED. Male patients with monocular injuries involved in RTAs were mostly affected. The vision was preserved in most of the cases.

How to cite this article: Sahu SK, Radhakrishnan RV, Mohanty CR, Parija S, Palanisamy S, Mishra P, et al. Pattern and clinical profile of patients with ocular trauma presenting to the emergency department of a teaching hospital in India: Aprospective observational study. Turk J Emerg Med 2024;24:90-6.

Approval was obtained from the institute ethics committee of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar (T/IM/‑NF/ Ophthal/20/173, dated February 11, 2021).

The authors certify that they have obtained all appropriate patient consent forms. In the form the patient(s) has/have given his/her/their consent for his/her/their images and other clinical information to be reported in the journal. The patients understand that their names and initials will not be published and due efforts will be made to conceal their identity, but anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

SKS and CRM: Conceptualization (lead); Methodology (lead); Writing – original draft (Support); Software and investigation (Lead), Writing – review and editing (equal). RVR and SP: Writing – original draft (Lead, equal), Software and investigation (Support), and writing – review and editing (support, equal). SPS, PM and DS: Writing – review and editing, Visualization. CRM did the overall supervision of the whole study, and all authors had made a substantial contribution. All authors have read and agreed on the content of the final manuscript.

None Declared.

None.