Young men, whites at higher risk for eye injury

The rates of eye injury are highest among whites and among men in their 20s, according to a review of a large amount of data on injuries.

Gerald McGwin Jr., MS, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, extracted data from three large surveys completed in 2001 to estimate the number of eye injuries seen in emergency departments, inpatient and outpatient facilities and private physicians’ offices.

In 2001, an estimated 1.9 million people (6.98 per 1,000) had an eye injury that required treatment. About half the injuries were treated in an emergency room (50.7%), followed by private physicians’ offices (38.7%), outpatient (8.1%) and inpatient (2.1%) facilities. Rates were highest for superficial injuries, foreign bodies, contusions and open wounds.

Men had more than twice the rate of eye injury compared with women (9.5 per 1,000 compared to 4.5 per 1,000). Unlike previous studies, this study showed a higher rate of eye injuries among whites than blacks. The authors attributed the difference to their inclusion of data from private physicians’ offices.

The study is published in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.