Determinants of Visual Prognosis in Pediatric Ocular Trauma: Influence of Age and Injury Setting

Background Pediatric ocular trauma is a major cause of visual morbidity and is one of the preventable major causes of blindness in childhood globally. It is responsible for about one-third of all eye injuries seen in emergency rooms, with a high percentage seen in children under the age of 16. Worldwide, ocular trauma represents 8–14% of the total childhood injuries and causes over half a million blinding injuries annually, adding to the 1.6 million blind, 2.3 million visually impaired, and 19 million with unilateral visual impairment from eye injuries. Aims To find out Determinants of Visual Prognosis in Pediatric Ocular Trauma: Influence of Age and Injury Setting Methods The present study was structured as a descriptive cross-sectional study at Bajwa Hospital Lahore, over six months. 52 patients were recruited. Inclusion criteria consisted of children aged ≤16 years presenting with ocular trauma of any nature (blunt, penetrating, chemical, or mechanical), without any previous ocular disease that had an impact on vision. Exclusion criteria were patients with congenital ocular pathology, history of previous ocular surgery, incomplete data, or those who were lost to follow-up. Recruitment was accomplished via consecutive sampling, Data analysis was conducted with the use of SPSS version 23. Results The results show LEFT (58.3%) occurred more frequently than RIGHT (41.7%). Males made up 58.3% of the data, while females were 41.7%. The location of events was evenly split among HOME, STREET, and SCHOOL (25% each), with fewer occurrences on GROUND (16.7%) and the least in OTHER PLACES (8.3%). OPEN GLOBE and CLOSED GLOBE were equally represented (50% each). ZONE I, ZONE II, and ZONE III also had equal distributions (33.3% each). For time duration, less than 2 hours accounted for 8.3%, less than 5 hours for 25%, and less than 8 hours for 16.7% of the data. Conclusion Age and setting of injury are the major predictors of visual outcome in childhood ocular trauma Based on the provided descriptive statistics for a cross-sectional study on pediatric ocular trauma. The results suggest a greater incidence of ocular trauma in male children.