Domestic Violence-Related Ocular Injuries Among Adult Patients: Data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, 2008–2017

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To investigate domestic violence (DV)-related ocular injuries among adult emergency department (ED) patients in the US.

Methods

This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study of patients with a diagnosis of DV and diagnosis of ocular injury in the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) from 2008–2017. We identified patient- and hospital-level variables associated with DV-related ocular injuries. We calculated annual incidence rates using US Census data. Adjusting for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, we calculated mean and total charges.

Results

From 2008–2017, there were 26,215 ED visits for ocular injuries related to DV with an average incidence of 1.09 per 100,000 adult population (female patients, 84.5%; mean age [SE], 34.3 [0.2]). DV-related ocular injuries were most prevalent among patients in the lowest income quartile (39.1%) and on Medicaid (37.4%). Most ED visits presented to metropolitan teaching (55.4%), non-trauma (46.7%), and south regional (30.5%) hospitals. The most common ocular injury was contusion of eye/adnexa (61.1%). The hospital admission rate was 5.2% with a mean hospital stay of 2.9 [0.2]. The inflation-adjusted mean cost for medical services was $38,540 [2,310.8] per encounter with an average increase of $2,116 per encounter, annually. The likelihood of hospital admission increased for patients aged ≥60 years old, on Medicare, and with open globes or facial/orbital fractures (all p < .05).

Conclusion

Contusion of the eye/adnexa was the most common ocular injury among patients with DV-related ED visits. To better facilitate referrals to social services, ophthalmologists should utilize DV screenings, especially towards women and patients of less privileged socioeconomic status.

KEYWORDS:

• Domestic violence
• intimate partner violence
• ocular injuries
• ophthalmology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09286586.2023.2222792

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [T35HL007649].