Ramirez DA, et al. - Researchers ascertained if ocular trauma occurred more frequently in the summer months. Although decreasing in incidence, eye trauma was seen to be a seasonal condition. A greater effectiveness of prevention efforts could be seen if implemented in the spring or summer months and if targeted toward men and those under age 60.

Methods

• Experts conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study.
• They used the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), which is a large publicly available administrative database that provides nationally representative estimates of emergency department (ED) visits in the United States.
• They used billing codes from NEDS from 2006 to 2013 to identify all cases of ocular trauma, and to estimate the population at risk for visiting an ED, the United States decennial census was used.
• In the incidence of ED-diagnosed eye trauma, the main outcome measures were the seasonal and annual trends.

Results

• As per data, for an estimated 5,615,532 ED encounters over the 8-year study period, eye trauma was the primary diagnosis.
• Findings suggested that superficial injury of eye and adnexa (101 ED-diagnosed cases per 100 000 population), extraocular foreign body (54 per 100 000 population), contusion of eye and adnexa (27 per 100 000 population), and ocular adnexal open wound (26 per 100 000 population) were the most common ocular trauma presentations.
• Results demonstrated that each exhibited a statistically significant annual cycle, with a mean annual peak between May and July (P < .01 for each, Edwards test).
• Over the study period, eye trauma visits decreased by an average of 4% per year with a similar pattern of decline during each calendar month (incidence rate ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.94-0.98).