PROPORTION OF OCCUPATIONAL EYE INJURIES AND THEIR RISK FACTORS: A SINGLE-CENTER STUDY

Introduction: Occupational ocular injuries account for about 3-4% of all occupational injuries in the United States while in Egypt, account for 36.7% .The impact of occupational ocular injuries affects the future of workers and inhibits the productivity. Aim of Work: To measure the proportion and risk factors for occupational eye injuries and to compare between occupational and non occupational eye injuries among patients attending the emergency department of the Ophthalmology center; Mansoura University. Materials and Methods: A total of 357working patients with eye injuries were subjected to a specially designed questionnaire covering the personal, socio-demographic, occupational history, general and ocular medical history and accident analysis. All patients underwent comprehensive eye examination. Ophthalmic B-scan ultrasound was performed gently in closed-globe injury cases . Results: All patients had unilateral eye injuries; the overall prevalence of occupational eye injuries was 57.1%. The significant independent predictors of occupational eye injuries among participants were: being male , aged ≥40 years and educated below secondary