Corneal abrasion most common basketball-related eye injury
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Key takeaways:
- An overall decline in basketball-related eye injuries was observed between 2012 and 2021.
- Eye protection is a key preventive measure for these injuries.
NEW ORLEANS — Corneal abrasions are the most common basketball-related eye injury, according to a poster presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.
An analysis of U.S. emergency department data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database also revealed that the most common mechanism of basketball-related injuries is contact with another player.
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“Currently, knowledge regarding basketball-related eye injuries is limited to studies with limited sample size that only look at select populations,” Eric Kim told Healio/OSN. “With this study, we wanted to answer the question, ‘What is the overall epidemiology of basketball-related eye injuries?’”
Kim and colleagues examined epidemiologic data from basketball-related injuries reported between 2012 and 2021, assigning each eligible patient a diagnosis and mechanism of injury. Basketball-related injuries were most common among male patients and children. Emergency department visits for basketball-related injuries dropped significantly between 2012 and 2021. The largest decrease occurred between 2019 and 2020, which was likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study’s limitations included data skewed toward more severe injuries, a lack of data on follow-up examinations and case narratives inconsistently identifying which parts of the eye were involved in the injury.
“Eye protection is a key preventative measure,” Kim said.
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Kim E, et al. Basketball-related eye injuries presenting to United States emergency department, 2012-2021. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting; April 23-27, 2023; New Orleans.
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