Trend of Incidence of Ocular Injury in Service Members of the U.S. Armed Forces in 2016–2019

Abstract

Purpose: Ocular injuries pose a significant threat to performance of military functions by the U.S. service members. To estimate the burden of ocular injuries in service members, administrative health records from the Military Health System were collected and analyzed, inclusive of ocular injuries incurred during deployment, military training, or outside of duty hours. Methods: Patient encounters which matched the predesignated ICD10 codes for ocular injury and complications were extracted and were longitudinally analyzed to categorize patients into complicated (documentation of surgical procedure performed or ocular condition requiring further treatment) or uncomplicated (documentation of injury only). Comparison of incidence rates between groups was made, and geospatial analysis of the number of patients with ocular injury was conducted. Results: A total of 61,680 incidences of ocular injuries were identified from 2016 to 2019. The incidence rates for complicated and uncomplicated injuries were 21.3 and 82.3 per 10,000, respectively. The incidence rate of uncomplicated injury declined from 2016 to 2019, while that of complicated injury was relatively stable. For complicated ocular injury, the relative risk of males was 62% higher than that of females. The incidence rates of the Army and the Marines were significantly higher than those of the Air Force. California, Texas, and Virginia ranked top three in the numbers of complicated ocular injury patients. Unintentional injuries and struck were the most frequently coded intention and mechanism. Conclusion: Our results provide the critical information on trends of ocular injuries in relation to demographics, service branches, and occupations. Categorization of the severity of ocular injuries is important to inform health services operations analysis across the Military Health System to enhance medical readiness and improve outcomes.