Abstract

Objective- As ocular trauma is an important cause of blindness and visual morbidity, which can be prevented to some extent, aim of the present study is to determine the epidemiological (socioeconomic and etiological) profile of patients with orbital and ocular trauma attending the casualty in a tertiary care centre in Kerala.

Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in patients with orbital and ocular trauma who attended the ophthalmology casualty during the study period of three months which included 256 patients. A semi structured proforma was filled by the ophthalmologist attending the patient in casualty. This data was analysed using appropriate software. Various epidemiological parameters like age and sex distribution, type of referral, nature of injury, time interval between the occurrence of injury and presentation at hospital as well as adoption of protective measures like seatbelts or helmets in cases of road traffic accidents were analysed.

Results: From this study it was seen that males were mostly affected by the orbital and ocular injuries compared to females, the male to female ratio being 4:1. Young patients in age group 20-40 years were mostly affected. Among the injuries, domestic injuries were the most common. In road traffic accidents mostly drivers were the victims of injury, followed by the pedestrians. Majority of these accidents happened in national and state highways. About 85% victims were not using any protective measures like seat belt or helmet at the time of accident.

Conclusion: Present study reveals that majority of orbital and ocular injuries occur at home especially due to domestic fall. Hence health and safety strategies aimed at preventing eye injuries should include home as a high risk environment in addition to work place and roads. Measures should be taken to tackle this issue in future. Another important observation is that even though use of seatbelts and helmets are compulsory, most people are not using them. Educating people to change this attitude is important.

Keywords: ocular trauma, road traffic accidents, domestic injury