PATTERNS OF OCULAR TRAUMA AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN KARACHI: A PROSPECTIVE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Ocular trauma creates a diverse workload of emergency cases that requires local data on the nature of the injury, the causative material and the anatomical involvement to guide prevention and service planning. The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of ocular trauma attending the tertiary care hospital and to look at the associations of the injury source and the demographic characteristics of the patients. Twenty-seven eight patients (3-80 years old) consecutively attending the Ophthalmology and Emergency Departments of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, Karachi were included in the study. A structured proforma recording demographic characteristics, source of injury, duration since injury, injury inflicting material, trauma pattern and ocular structure involved was completed. Frequencies and percentages were presented, and categorical associations were analyzed by the prespecified categorical statistical procedures outlined in the Methods section. Results: There were 190 males (68.3%) and 88 females (31.7%). The 16-30 age group had the highest number of patients (92, 33.1%). The most common injuries were those sustained in the workplace (82, 29.5%), at home (58, 20.9%) and in road traffic accidents (52, 18.7%). The material that caused the most injuries (54; 19.4%) was metal. Mechanical trauma was the most common cause (212 cases, 76.3%) and the cornea was the most commonly recorded structure (78 cases, 28.1%). A total of 96 patients (34.5%) had presentation <6 hours, and 36 (12.9%) had presentation >3 days. Source reported p-values of 0.041, 0.032 and 0.028 for the three association analyses, which must be correlated with the tabled contingency tables. Conclusions: A descriptive analysis is provided that demonstrates a predominance of males, young adults, workplace exposures, mechanical injuries and corneal involvement. They contribute to the planning of prevention and emergency services at a local level. Conclusions drawn from inferences are tentative due to incomplete congruence between the source tables and statistical reporting