Epidemiology of Ocular Emergencies in a Tertiary Care Center in North India

Introduction: Any trauma to the eyes could be perilous as the mere thought of any disturbance in the vision makes the patient panic. Ninety percent of ocular injuries can be prevented using appropriate protective wear. Aims and objectives: To study the various types of traumatic and non traumatic ocular emergencies and their demographic details. Materials and methods: This is a cross sectional study on all the ocular emergency patients who presented to the Emergency department of the Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital (Hallet hospital), Kanpur, India during the 6 months period. Various epidemiological parameters like age, sex, duration of presentation, mode of injuries and types of ocular emergencies were analysed. Detailed ocular examination was done in all the patients. Results: Out of 500 patients, 411 (83.2%) were male and 89 (16.8%) were female. Male to female ratio was 4.62: 1. The mean age of the patients in traumatic group was 30.85 years with maximum patients in the age group 21 -30 years. The mean age of the patients in non traumatic group was 47.4 years with maximum patients in the age group 51 -60 years. Out of 446 patients in traumatic group, 370 patients (83%) presented to hospital within 24 hrs of trauma, the most common cause was Road traffic accidents with 177 patients (39.7%) and most common type of injury was contusion with 391 patients (87.6%). While in non traumatic group of 54 patients, maximum patients presenting to hospital were in the 48 -1 week group, the number being 27 patients (50%) and the most common type of ocular emergency was conjunctivitis with 21 patients (38.88%).