Prevalence, clinical presentation and risk factors pf ocluar trauma at the University Teaching Hospital Eye Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

Abstract

The eye is an external organ, and so it is easy to injure. For this reason, eye injuries are common among people all over the world It is re ported that up to 20% of adult population has had ocular trauma at some point in their lives. The reason for conducting this study was to explore ocular trauma presentation and risk factors at University Teaching Hospitals (UTH) Eye Hospital, in Lusaka Zam bia. To investigate the clinical presentation and risk factors of patients presenting with ocular trauma at UTH Eye Hospital. This was a hospital based, cross sectional study. It was carried out at the UTH Eye Hospital. The study was conducted over a perio d of 3 months, from 1 st January to 31 st March 2018, with a predetermined sample size of 84. A ll ocular trauma patients presenting to the study site who met the inclusion criteria were recruited for this study. Patients answered a structured questionnaire a nd were examined to determine the clinical presentation of ocular trauma. For the calculation of the prevalence the numbers taken were from 1 st April 2017 to 31 st March 2018. A total of 84 patients with ocular trauma were recruited for this study. The respondents’ ages ranged from 7 months to 57 years old. The prevalence was calculated to be 7.25%. There were 75% (n = 63) males and 25% (n = 21) females, giving a 3:1 male to fem ale ratio. 40.5% (n = 34) of the respondents had injuries to the right eye and 44.0% (n = 37) to the left eye giving a uni ocular involvement of 84.5% (n = 71) while the remaining 15.5% (n = 13) had injuries to both eyes. The commonest object of injury in the respondents was a stick or some woody object, presenting with 17.9% (n = 15). Most respondents 46.4% (n = 39) were injured within the home environment followed by the work place 21.8% (n = 18) . The majority of the respondents 60.7% (n = 51) had n ormal visual acuity (i.e ranging from 6/6 to 6/18) and 29.8% were blind (VA worse than 3/60). In this study the prevalence of ocular trauma was determined to be 7.25%. Object of injury was statistically significant with a p value of 0.002. No statistical s ignificance was noted in other risk factors. Ocular trauma is a common presentation at UTH Eye Hospital with a prevalence of 7.25%. Most injuries took place in the home environment followed by the workplace. 6 Many respondents presented within 24 hours afterMany respondents presented within 24 hours after the injuries and their visual the injuries and their visual acuities where largely normal i.e ranging from 6/6 to 6/18. acuities where largely normal i.e ranging from 6/6 to 6/18. To sensitise parents in homes and workers in work places on ocular trauma. To To sensitise parents in homes and workers in work places on ocular trauma. To institute work place policies that makes it mandatory for workers to wear protective institute work place policies that makes it mandatory for workers to wear protective wwear. And to create an ocular trauma registry that would be mandated to keep data ear. And to create an ocular trauma registry that would be mandated to keep data and disseminate information about ocular trauma in Zambia.and disseminate information about ocular trauma in Zambia.

Key Words: Ocular Trauma, Prevalence.Ocular Trauma, Prevalence.