Abstract
Purpose :
To analyze the prevalence of ocular trauma between 2014 and 2018 in five diverse counties comprising New York City. We further examined how race, sex and age could influence prevalence of ocular trauma during this time period.
Methods :
The CDC Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS) was used to obtain data from electronic claims and medical registry. Data was obtained by using the search terms “prevalence ocular injury, burns and surgical complications of the eye”. Data was further categorized based on age, race, gender and Medicare claims. We evaluated the data from 2014 to 2018 for New York State and compared it to its most populated counties (New York County, Bronx County, Kings County, Richmond County and Queens County). Multiple logistic regression was used to study the effects of time across years, age, and the location on the occurrence of ocular trauma. The significance level was set at corrected p≤0.05.
Results :
Overall, the occurrence of ocular trauma increased significantly between 2014 to 2018 (p-value <0.0001), and is significantly different among age groups (p<0.0001) and counties (p<0.001). Specifically, those 85 years and older were 2.6 (95% CI 2.4 -2.9; p<0.0001) more likely to have ocular trauma when compared to those aged 19-39 years. The prevalence of ocular trauma was 1.2 times (95% CI 1.1-1.2; p<0.0001) higher in Kings County when compared with Bronx county. Manhattan county had a 1.4 (95% CI 1.325-1.208, p<0.0001) higher prevalence of ocular trauma when compared to Bronx county. When Queens county was compared with Bronx county, Queens county was found to have a 1.4 higher prevalence rate (95% CI 1.1-1.8, p=0.035).
Conclusions :
Ocular trauma and its complications are of significant public health concern. Prevalence of ocular trauma differs by age and geographic location. Marginalized communities are more affected and receive the brunt of this problem leading to all the potential issues of visual impairment and blindness. Ensuring that adequate facilities are available to administer timely and appropriate care is essential.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.