Occupational Eye Injuries and Gender: A Single Center Based Study

Purpose: Workplace injuries to the eyes are one of the leading causes of ocular trauma and can cause serious visual impairment, with even small injuries incurring considerable financial implications due to work unavailability. The current study tried to assess sex distribution among patients with ocular trauma present to Aswan University HospitalPatients & methods: Over one year between Jan 2020 and Dec 2020, a descriptive hospital-based study was conducted. All patients with ocular trauma were enrolled. Descriptive statical analysis was applied and comparison between sex distribution of the trauma was done by Chi2 test.Results: A total of 701 eyes of 607 patients with ocular trauma were recruited. Mean age was 23.02 years with a male to female ratio of (3.9:1). Adnexal injuries were frequently seen (38.5%) followed by globe injuries (26.4%). Other injuries included extra global foreign body (18.1%), chemical injuries (2.7%) and intra mural foreign body (0.9%). Workers were the most frequent affected groups (34.1%) followed by students (28.2%). Male sex had significantly higher frequency of different types of causative agents either mechanical or non-mechanical. Conclusion: Ocular trauma is a primary cause of monocular morbidity and blindness. Workers and students who participated in street activities and workplaces were the most impacted. Males sex more liable to ocular trauma than females.