Evaluation of the demographic features of eye loss in Turkey

Abstract

To investigate the causes of eye loss in different age groups and the distribution of age and sex among these patients. Methods: The medical records of 816 patients (504 men, 312 women) with eye loss due to different etiologies were evaluated retrospectively for this study. Patients were divided into four age groups (preschool, school, adolescence and adulthood) and causes of eye loss were grouped as follows: trauma, postoperative and other causes (infection, tumor, congenital diseases). Pearson's Chi-square test was used to compare the causes of eye loss with age sex and the affected side of the patients. Results: The mean age was 12.6±13.6 (range, 0-76) years. There were 317 patients (38.8%) in group 1, 214 patients (26.2%) in group 2, 107 patients (13.1%) in group 3, and 178 patients (21.8%) in group 4). The most frequent etiologic factor of eye loss among all the patients and individually in each group was trauma (p<0.001). The percentage of trauma tended to increase by age until the age of 20 years. After that, the predominance of other causes of eye loss increased. Fortunately, the overall number of patients with eye loss tended to decrease by age. Traumatic etiologies were more frequently seen in male (68%) population, whereas other causes (infection, tumor and natal diseases) of eye loss were seen more in the female population (57.7%) (p<0.001). Conclusion: The young adult males are more prone to work-related accidents resulting in eye loss. Thus, the preventive measures are very important to reduce the traumatic eye injuries leading to workforce loss.

Etiology of Eye Globe Atrophy in Upper Egypt: A Retrospective Analytical Study

“…A possible explanation of this observation is the higher incidence of ocular trauma at work, especially with careers that are male dominated especially in Upper Egypt. Similar results of higher male affection with globe atrophy compared with females were suggested by other studies [8,13] which is comparable to our results. Ana-lyzing the morbidities of the fellow-eye in studies investigating atrophic globes, phthisis bulbi or eye-loss would improve the quality of vision and raise the psychosocial status of one-eyed patients.…”

“…In our study, the second most common cause of globe atrophy was postoperative ocular complications representing 28.1% of the studied sample. Our results are in line with Fazil [13] who reported the percentage of postoperative complication as a cause of globe atrophy in the adulthood group to be 17%. Other causes of globe atrophy such as ocular tumors, ocular infections and inflammations and congenital abnormalities constituted about 26 % of the total number of eyes enrolled in the current study.…”

“…Other causes of globe atrophy such as ocular tumors, ocular infections and inflammations and congenital abnormalities constituted about 26 % of the total number of eyes enrolled in the current study. Also, these percentages were similar to what was observed in previous studies [8,13]. Regarding the age distribution of the studied sample, the highest number of eye loss cases in our study was recorded in the early and middle adulthood (25-60 years).…”

“…Other studies in developing countries documented that nearly 50% of eye loss were due to traumatic eye injuries [11,12]. A higher percentage was reported in a study of eye loss in Turkey by Fazil [13] who noted that 71.9% of included cases were due to eye trauma. On the other hand, some studies reported lower percentages of eye loss due to trauma.…”

“…Many patients with an ocular traumatic etiology of globe atrophy might have been exposed to trauma at younger ages. Fazil [13] found that ocular globe loss was more prevalent in ages less than 8 years as the level of children awareness of eye trauma at that age is expected to be deficient and most of them can't protect themselves or wear protective measures. Many studies investigating traumatic eye injuries in Egypt attributed reasons for the predominance of these injuries among pediatric population to family negligence, lack of adult supervision and low socioeconomic conditions associated with poverty and ignorance [16][17][18].…”