Epidemiology of ophthalmological emergencies

Abstract

Objective: Determine the behavior of ophthalmological emergencies in patients attending the emergency service.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational descriptive study was conducted of 194 285 patients (103 859 in the year 2017 and 90 426 in 2018).
Results: Of the patients studied, 52.3% were male and 116 444 (59.9%) were 19-59 years old. The most common diagnosis was conjunctivitis, with 72 574 patients (37.4%), of whom 43 186 (41.6%) were diagnosed in the year 2017 and 29 388 (32.5%) in 2018, followed by superficial corneal foreign bodies with 24 920 (12.8%): 12 544 (12.1%) in the year 2017 and 12 376 (13.7%) in 2018. A total 13 500 patients were diagnosed with hemorrhagic conjunctivitis in the year 2017 due to an epidemic affecting Havana in that year. Of the patients studied, 573 required hospitalization, 327 of them undergoing major emergency surgery. Mean age was 45.11 years and the most common diagnosis was open globe ocular trauma with or without an intraocular foreign body.
Conclusions: Conjunctivitis, superficial corneal foreign bodies and subconjunctival hemorrhage were the most common diagnoses, whereas open globe ocular trauma with or without an intraocular foreign body was the leading cause of admission and major emergency surgery.
Key words: Ophthalmological emergencies; conjunctivitis; ocular trauma.