Factors Associated with Prevalence of Eye Injury Among Patients Attending Mulago Hospital.

Abstract

Eye injuries are a significant cause of monocular blindness occurring among people of all age groups worldwide. Despite the community health educations carried out countrywide eye injuries have remained one of the high medical cases in the country. Injuries with sticks, stones and metallic objects are the most common. Serious ocular injury on the other hand, gives rise to irrevocable structural damage or functional loss. Although difficult to quantify, the overall cost to society and the drain upon health resources are considerable. However, there seem to be less attention given to the main factors that contribute to the research problem. If the issue of the causes of eye injuries is not addressed, given the age bracket the population will be affected since the eye is a key organ in the enhancement of learning process and good quality of life. In order to achieve this research purpose, the following general and specific objectives were formulated and it included , to determine the factors associated with eye injuries among patients attending Mulago Hospital and to determine the prevalence of eye injury , to establish socio demographic factors associated with eye injury , to determine environmental factors associated with eye injury, to examine lifestyle factors associated with eye injury in patients attending Mulago hospital respectively. A cross-sectional descriptive study design employing quantitative approach was used in this study and using the sample size determination formula of fisher (2001) was used to obtain sample size of 150 respondents. Consecutive sampling procedure method was used to sample participants. and interviewer questionnaires were used to collect data. Reliability of the research instrument was to measure the consistence by pre- testing 10 to 12 patients from Kawempe Health Center in Kawempe division.. Validity was ensured by proper judgment and data was analyzed through SSPS Software from which frequencies, mulvariate analysis was done. The research finding indicates that the prevalence of eye injury in patients in Mulago hospital is generally high at 74% (*statistically significant variable; p<0.05) Socio-demographic factors such as sex (X2=8.382, p=0.002), age (X2=5.215, p=0.011), Marital status (X2=5.828, p=0.042) and occupation (X2=6.811, p=0.028) were found to have a statistically significant association (p<0.05) with having an eye injury among patients at Mulago Hospital .The presence of agents such as bacteria, dust, pricks, assault and accidents that could lead to the occurrence of eye injury (X2=6.215, p=0.019) was found to have a statistically significant association (p<0.05) with occurrence of eye injury. Life-style factors such as the using protection for the eyes when conducting an activity that could affect the eyes (X2=8.960, p=0.015) and having been involved in an accident (X2=12.262, p=0.006) were found to have a statistically significant association (p<0.05) with occurrence of eye injuries among the respondents. The study concludes that, the prevalence of eye injuries among patients was at 74% high. The socio-demographic factors that were found to be significantly associated with occurrence of eye injuries were sex and occupation of the patient. The presence of agents such as bacteria, dust, pricks, assault and accidents that could lead to the occurrence of eye injury within the environment was significantly associated with the occurrence of eye injuries among the patients. The life-style factors such as the limited use of protection for the eyes when conducting an activity were significantly associated with the occurrence of eye injuries. It was therefore Recommended the government through the ministry of health should conduct community sensitization so as to provide necessary information to the public on how to protect their eyes as well as avoid eye injuries, take all necessary measures to reduce road accidents through observation traffic laws as well as preventing household accidents that could result into eye injuries, control crime within the community to avoid mob justice where individuals use acid as a weapon to damage the eyes and face of their rivals. Employers at different work places should provide respective eye protection equipment to prevent eye injuries at the work place.