A Study of Ocular Trauma Profile and Its Visual Outcome in Road Traffic Accidents

摘要

Background: This is a prospective study of ocular trauma profile related to road traffic accidents that presented to a tertiary care centre in Western Maharashtra. Aims & Objectives: To study the epidemiology and pattern of ocular trauma among the road traffic accident cases in western Maharashtra. Methodology: Hospital based study conducted from September 2013 to March 2015. 114 subjects (122 eyes) were enrolled in the study. 8 of these subjects had bilateral ocular trauma. The examination involved assessment of visual acuity and description of nature and extent of ocular injury. The visual outcome was taken to be the best corrected vision at 3 months post trauma. The chi-square test was used to statistically analyze the data. Results: It was observed that 32.79% of injuries were extra ocular, 59.02% were closed globe intraocular injuries and 8.19% were open globe intraocular injuries. 78.69 % of the injuries were mild, 9.84% were moderate and 11.84% were severe. The visual outcome was good (visual acuity of more than 6/18 at 3 months post-trauma) in 89.34%. Only 4.10% of the total cases studied had used safety measures viz., helmets or seat belts. A total of 12% of subjects were found to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of accident. Conclusions: Primary preventive approach such as promoting safe riding practices and strict implementation of traffic rules like riding at safe speed wearing helmet and avoiding alcohol before driving are needed to prevent road traffic accidents associated ocular morbidity.