Ocular injuries following road traffic accidents: A hospital based case series study

Abstract

Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are one of the leading causes of ocular trauma, especially in developing countries like India. Aim of the study was to assess the pattern, frequency and visual impairment due to ocular injuries following Road Traffic Accidents in patients attending tertiary care hospital. This Prospective Observational Case-series study was conducted on 63 patients who presented with history of ocular trauma following RTA to Ophthalmology OPD, HSK Hospital, Bagalkot between June 2019-Dec 2019. All the cases were subjected to detailed history taking, anterior and posterior segment examination, additional investigations whenever necessary.Ocular injuries following RTAs were found to be more common in males (77.7%) compared to females and the maximum number of victims belonged to the age group of 21-30 years (38.09%). Closed globe injuries (85.7%) outnumbered the Open globe injuries(14.3%). Majority of cases had no/slight change in visual acuity following trauma. Ocular injuries following RTAs are one of the leading causes of avoidable ocular morbidity in working class males. Though severe sight-threatening ocular injuries were less in number, they can be prevented if proper precautionary measures are followed.