Accepted Manuscript

Epidemiology of paediatric ocular trauma admissions

Lizette Mowatt, MB;BS, MMedSci, FRCS (Ed), FRCOphth

PII: S0039-6257(14)00035-6

DOI: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2014.02.001

Reference: SOP 6501

To appear in: Survey of Ophthalmology

Received Date: 20 October 2013

Accepted Date: 7 February 2014

Please cite this article as: Mowatt L, Epidemiology of paediatric ocular trauma admissions, Survey ofOphthalmology (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2014.02.001.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Letter to the Editor, Epidemiology of paediatric ocular trauma admissions

Dear Sirs,

I read with great interest the very informative and well written literature review on “ The epidemiology

and etiology of paediatric ocular trauma”1. The authors have given an excellent worldwide view of the

epidemiology of trauma, including the hospitalization admissions (Table 1)1 which not only impacts on

the children but on the parents, who lose productivity from time off from work. Although 95% of eye

injuries don’t require hospitalization3, the child’s admission period as well as their post injury visual

acuity can assist in highlighting the depth of this serious preventative public health problem.

We are in agreement that paediatric ocular trauma is gender and age specific, and its aetiology varies

widely with geographic and cultural differences 1. Although it was a worldwide literature review, I noted

that no reference was made to the Caribbean. In our paediatric ocular trauma admission study in

Jamaica, the only one for the Caribbean, the incidence of paediatric ocular trauma admission was 14.6

per 100 0004. Stones (20%) and sticks (9%) were the most common aetiologic agent in both genders,

usually in children >4 years old. Contusions (48.3%) and penetrating injuries (35.9%) were most

common. The median hospitalization period varied according to the age and gender of the child, from 3

days (0-3year old group) to 8 days in the 8-11year old group for females 4. The reasons for the

hospitalization may vary geographically for several reasons from severity of the injury, social reasons,

lack of caregiver at home to availability and access to health care as in our study. Hospitalization

duration is also important public health information due to the potential psychosocial impact on

children after severe post traumatic ocular morbidity2.

REFERENCES:

1) Abbott J, Shah P. The epidemiology and etiology of paediatric ocular trauma. Surv Ophthal.

2013; 58:476-85

2) Alexander DA, Kemp RV, Klein S, et al. Psychiatric sequelae and psychosocial adjustment

following ocular trauma: a retrospective pilot study. Br J Ophthalmol. 2001;85(5):560-2

3) May DR, Kuhn FP, Morris RE, et al. The epidemiology of serious eye injuries from the United

States Eye Injury Registry. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2000;238 (2):153-7

4) Mowatt L, Mac Donald A, Ferron-Boothe D. Paediatric ocular trauma admission to the University

Hospital of the West Indies 2000-2005. West Indian Med J. 2012; 61 (6): 599-640