Spectrum of ocular firework injuries in children: A 5-year retrospective study during a festive season in Southern India

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Abstract

Purpose:

Ocular trauma is a major cause of acquired monocular blindness in children. Firework injuries account for 20% of ocular trauma. The purpose of our study was to document the profile of ocular firework injuries in children during the festive season of Diwali and to determine the prevalence of unilateral blindness in them.

Materials and Methods:

A retrospective chart analysis of ocular firework injury in children during the festival of Diwali from 2009 to 2013, conducted in a tertiary care eye center in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Children below 18 years of age with ocular firework injuries who presented to the emergency department for 3 consecutive days - the day of Diwali, 1 day before, and 1 day after Diwali - were included in this study.

Results:

Eighty-four children presented with firework-related ocular injuries during the study period. Male to female ratio was 4:1 with mean age 9.48 ± 4 years. Forty-four percentage required hospitalization. The prevalence of unilateral blindness in children due to fireworks was found to be 8% (95% confidence interval - 2–13%).

Conclusion:

Vision 2020 gives high priority to avoidable blindness, especially in children. In our study, for every 12 children who presented with firecracker injury, one resulted in unilateral blindness. This is an avoidable cause of blindness. Awareness needs to be created, and changes in policy regarding sales and handling of firecrackers including mandatory use of protective eyewear should be considered.

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Most cited references 16

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Article: found

The epidemiology and etiology of pediatric ocular trauma.

Joseph Abbott, Peter Shah (2013)

Eighteen million people worldwide have uniocular blindness from traumatic injury. Injuries occur disproportionally commonly in childhood. Every year a quarter of a million children present with serious ocular trauma. For the vast majority the injury is preventable. We review the international literature that identifies high-risk circumstances.

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Pediatric fireworks-related injuries in the United States: 1990-2003.

Rachel J Witsaman, R Dawn Comstock, Gary A Smith (2006)

Our goal was to describe the epidemiology of pediatric fireworks-related injuries among children aged 19 years and younger by using a nationally representative sample. We performed a retrospective analysis of data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 1990-2003. An estimated 85800 pediatric fireworks-related injuries were treated in US emergency departments during the 14-year study period. Injured children had a mean age of 10.8 years, and 77.9% were male. Fireworks users accounted for 49.5% of the injuries, whereas 22.2% of the injuries were to bystanders; however, user status could not be determined in 28.3% of cases. The overall fireworks-related injury rate decreased significantly during the study period, but subgroup analysis did not indicate consistent declines among all ages and types of fireworks. Injuries were most commonly caused by firecrackers (29.6%), sparklers/novelty devices (20.5%), and aerial devices (17.6%). The most commonly injured body sites were the eyeball (20.8%), face (20.0%), and hands (19.8%), and the most common injury type was burns (60.3%). Approximately 91.6% of all children with fireworks-related injuries were treated and released from hospital emergency departments, 5.3% were admitted, and 2.3% were transferred to another institution. Bystanders accounted for 13.3% of admitted cases and 20.6% of transferred cases. Consumer fireworks cause serious preventable injuries among pediatric fireworks users and bystanders in the United States. Parents should be advised to take their children to safer public fireworks displays rather than allowing consumer fireworks to be used by or near their children. A national restriction of consumer fireworks, in accordance with the policy recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, should be implemented to reduce the burden of fireworks-related injuries among children.

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The rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air: fireworks-related injuries to children.

G A Smith, J F Knapp, T M Barnett … (1996)

To describe the epidemiology of fireworks-related injuries to children treated in a pediatric emergency department. A descriptive study of a consecutive series of patients. The emergency department of a large urban children's hospital. Children treated for injuries associated with fireworks during the 22-year period from 1972 through 1993. Three hundred sixteen children were treated for fireworks-related injuries. Ninety-five percent of patients were injured during the 3-week period of June 22 to July 14 during the study years. Seventy-one percent of patients were male, and the average age was 8.5 years, with a range of 1 month to 17 years. The child was a bystander in 26% of cases, and adult supervision was present in 54% of cases. One patient died, and 11% of children required admission to the hospital, with an average length of stay of 7.8 days (range, 1 to 37 days). Fifteen children (5%) went to the operating room for treatment of injuries. Thirty-three patients (10%) had permanent sequelae from their injuries, including 7 children (2%) with complete or partial loss of vision in one eye. The eyes were injured in 29% of cases, followed by hands and fingers (22%), other head and face sites (18%), and lower extremities (16%). The primary injury was a burn in 72% of cases. Firecrackers were associated with 42% of injuries, followed by bottle rockets (12%), other types of rockets (7%), Roman candles (11%), sparklers (7%), fountains (5%), jumping jacks (4%), and class B (illegal) fireworks (4%). Sixty-seven percent of sparkler-related injuries occurred among children 5 years and younger (Fisher's exact test, P = .000002; odds ratio [OR] = 10.00, 95% confidence interval 3.52 < OR < 29.24). Permanent sequelae were more common for eye injuries caused by rockets than eye injuries caused by other types of fireworks (Fisher's exact test, P = .03; OR = 6.72, 95% confidence interval 1.18 < OR < 38.18). Charges for medical care of a fireworks-related injury averaged $1385 per patient (range, $44 to $15 071). Fireworks are associated with serious injuries. Findings of this large consecutive series describe the epidemiology of these injuries. Children and their families should be encouraged to enjoy fireworks at public fireworks displays conducted by professionals. Fireworks for individual private use should be banned.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Indian J Ophthalmol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Indian J Ophthalmol

Journal ID (publisher-id): IJO

Title: Indian Journal of Ophthalmology

Publisher: Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd (India )

ISSN (Print): 0301-4738

ISSN (Electronic): 1998-3689

Publication date (Print): November 2015

Volume: 63

Issue: 11

Pages: 843-846

Affiliations

[1]Department of Ophthalmology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Author notes

Correspondence to: Dr. Deepa John, Department of Ophthalmology, Christian Medical College, Schell Eye Hospital, Arni Road, Vellore - 632 001, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: deeparebeccajohn@ 123456gmail.com

Article

Publisher ID: IJO-63-843

DOI: 10.4103/0301-4738.171966

PMC ID: 4730696

PubMed ID: 26669336

SO-VID: ef64f623-a443-48ba-bb26-e8b9f10a91e3

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Spectrum of ocular firework injuries in children: A 5-year retrospective study during a festive season in Southern India

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Abstract

Purpose:

Materials and Methods:

Results:

Conclusion:

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Chinese Journal of School Health

Most cited references 16

The epidemiology and etiology of pediatric ocular trauma.

Pediatric fireworks-related injuries in the United States: 1990-2003.

The rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air: fireworks-related injuries to children.

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