Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To estimate the incidence of open globe injury hospitalization in the state of California; to find the gender and racial differences in hospitalization rates; and to determine the trend of hospitalization rates over 11 years from 1990 to 2000. Methods: Age-adjusted and age-specific rates of open globe injury hospitalizations were estimated according to age, sex, race from California Hospital Discharge Database (CHDD). CHDD, which is under the administration of the California Health Facilities Commision, maintains records of all hospital patient discharges from acute care hospitals in the State. Open globe injury was defined by ICD-9-CM code 871. Results: The annual 1990 age-adjusted rates are 5.1 (per 100,000) for total population, 8.1 for male, 2.0 for female, 4.4 for Non-hispanic Whites, 9.5 for Blacks, 6.0 for Hispanics, and 3.7 for Asian and others respectively. While for 2000, the age-adjusted rates 2.3 for toal population, 3.4 for male, 1.1 for female, 1.8 for Non-hispanic Whites, 3.8 for Blacks, 3.1 for Hispanics, and 1.4 for Asian and others correspondingly. In 1990, age-specific rates for age 0-24, 25-44, 45-64, 65 and up are 5.4, 5.4, 3.5, 5.9 respectively. In 2000, they are 2.1, 2.3, 1.5, 4.1 correspondingly. The median length of stay is constant at 3 days. Conclusions: The hospitalization rates for total population declined dramatically by 55% from 5.1 to 2.3 over 11 years in California. However, racial difference between Blacks and Non-hispanic Whits persited during the same period, with Black 2.1 times higher than Non-hispanic Whites, and difference between Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites increased from 1.4 times to 1.7 times. Difference between males and females delined from approximately 4 times to 3 times nevertheless. Further investigation is needed for the reasons of racial and gender differeces.