Frequency and structure of emergency calls to the eye centers at the third stage of ophthalmic care depending on its availability in the regions of Azerbaijan

Aim: to evaluate the frequency and structure of emergency calls to the eye centers at the third stage of ophthalmic care depending on its availability in the regions of Azerbaijan. Patients and Methods: the article presents materials of emergency calls to the Zarifa Aliyeva National Center of Ophthalmology (NCO) during 2019. Depending on the availability of ophthalmic care, all settlements of the country were divided into categories. All emergency calls to the NCO were distributed according to the specified categories of settlements, main types (injuries, diseases), and characteristics of patients. For each category of settlements, the frequency of emergency calls to NCO due to injuries and diseases was calculated per 100 thousand populations. Results: 64.8% of emergency calls were associated with eye injuries. The frequency of emergency calls to the NCO as a whole (46.3±1.46) and due to injuries (34.9±1.27) is maximal among residents of Baku, minimal among residents of districts of republican subordination (10.8±1.17 and 18.4±1.53, respectively). Due to diseases, residents of Baku, cities — district centers and rural settlements had emergency calls with almost the same frequency (11,4±0,72, 11,5±0,81, 12,2±0,53 accordingly), sig-nificantly more than residents of districts of republican subordination (7.6±0.98). Among those who applied for injuries, men predominated (65.5±1.09%), and for eye diseases — patients of both sexes with the same frequency. Patients who had applied for injury were younger (20–39 years old) than patients with eye diseases (40–59 years old). Patients with eye injuries were treated at a later time (16–24 hours) than patients with eye diseases (8–16 hours). Corneal and conjunctival injuries are the leading among the traumatic type, while among eye diseases are inflammatory pathology of the conjunctiva. Conclusion: the frequency of emergency calls to the NCO depends on the availability of ophthalmic care at the local level. Men of working age predominate among the patients. Keywords: emergency call, ophthalmic care, third level, availability, Azerbaijan, nosological structure. For citation: Gadzhieva B.Kh. Frequency and structure of emergency calls to the eye centers at the third stage of ophthalmic care depending on its availability in the regions of Azerbaijan. Russian Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology. 2022;22(3):161–167 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2311- 7729-2022-22-3-161-167