Clinical analysis of eye injury of soldiers in plateau areas / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of eye injury of soldiers in Tibet, so as to propose suggestions for treatment improvement. Methods: The clinical data of soldiers with eye injury admitted to 6 hospitals serving soldiers in Tibet from Jan. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2017 were collected, including demographic information, cause of injury, time for medical treatment, and visual acuity at admission and at discharge. Then the mentioned data were compared with the data of soldiers with eye injury admitted to other military hospitals. Results: In total, 112 cases (116 eyes) were involved, including 110 males and 2 females. Among them, 111 cases (114 eyes) had mechanical globe injury accounting for 99.11% (98.28%), 55 cases (49.11%) had training injury, 35 cases (31.25%) had injury in spare time, and 22 cases (19.64%) had injury at worksite. Thirty-nine cases (34.82%) arrived at the central hospital or general hospital for treatment after 3 days of injury. The 24-h visit rate (41.07%, 46/112) was significantly lower than those reported by General Hospital of Jinan Military Command of PLA (82.37%, 271/329) and overall troops of full training (89.73%, 131/146) (both P = 0.01). The visual acuity of 70 eyes restored better visual sight at discharge versus at admission, accounting for 76.09% of the 92 eyes with sight recording. Totally 35.87% of eyes (33/92) had poor sight or single eye blindness. The incidence rates of poor sight (29.35% [27/92]) and single eye blindness (6.52% [6/92]) were significantly higher than the data reported by General Hospital of Jinan Military Command of PLA (8.03% [31/386] and 2.07% [8/386]) and overall troops of full training (6.16% [9/146] and 0.68% [1/146]) (all P < 0.05). The incidence of single eye blindness was significantly lower and the incidence of poor sight was significantly higher than the data reported by 15 grade three military hospitals (15.28% [118/772] and 10.23% [79/772]) (both P < 0.05). Conclusion: Mechanical injury is the main cause of eye injury in soldiers in Tibet. Eye injury in training has the highest incidence, which may be related to hypoxia at high altitude. More injured eyes are of poor sight or single eye blindness. It is necessary to strengthen treatment capacity of eye injuries and evacuation capacity of military hospitals in Tibet.