Researchers have found the incidence of eye trauma as a secondary admitting diagnosis increased from 14.5 to 19.0 per 100,000 population from 2001 to 2014. The study attributed the increase in secondary diagnoses largely to an increasing number of falls in elderly individuals.

The retrospective longitudinal cohort study looked at an estimated 939,608 admissions after analyzing data from the National Inpatient Sample of primary and secondary inpatient eye trauma admissions from 2001 through 2014, with 82.9% being a secondary diagnosis. Researchers found that primary eye trauma incidence decreased from 3.9 to 3.0 per 100,000 population. Primary trauma was also more common in children and adolescents than adults.

Those with a primary eye trauma diagnosis were more likely to have a stay of fewer than three days, more likely to have costs in the lowest quarter of the study population and less likely to die. The most frequent diagnosis was orbital fracture for primary trauma and contusion of eye and adnexa for secondary trauma.

The authors note that their findings could help warrant the development and implementation of effective preventive strategies for populations at risk of eye trauma, such as the elderly, children and adolescents.