Mechanical Ventilation and Its Association with Ocular Surface Disorders among Patients Admitted In Adult Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Present study was done to evaluate the Mechanical ventilation and its association with Ocular Surface Disorders among Patients admitted in Adult Intensive Care Unit. Material and Methods: It was a prospective observational study carried in AICU over period of one year by Department of Ophthalmology, Dr. RPGMC Kangra at Tanda. All the patients who were admitted in AICU greater than 48 hours between ages of 18-65 years were included and evaluated for socio-demographic information like age, gender, Mechanical ventilation etc. Thorough ophthalmic examination was also done for ocular surface disorders and analysed using epi info v7 software. Results: A total of 126 patients were included in the study. Mean age of the study participants was 41.8 years. Maximum patients, 23.8% of the patients were in age group of 51 and 60 years followed by 23% between 21 and 30 years and 41 and 50 years each. 64.3% of the patients were males while 35.7% were females. 74 (58.7%) of the patients had ocular surface disorders. In the present study, 66.7% of the patients were on mechanical ventilation at 48 hours. At the end of first week, 63% patients were on mechanical ventilation while at the end of second week, 54.5% patients were on mechanical ventilation. At the end of fourth and fifth week, none of the patients was on mechanical ventilation. In the present study, the association between presence of mechanical ventilation and ocular surface disorders was statistically significant. Conclusion: The present study concluded that the patients who were on mechanical ventilation had significantly higher number of ocular surface disorders.