Is Childhood Ocular Trauma More Often in Families with Low Socio-economic Level?

Aim: To examine whether socioeconomic status as determined by the number of siblings, educational level, and monthly household income is associated with childhood eye injuries.

Materials and Methods: Eighty six patients with ocular trauma and 86 subjects without trauma (control group) were enrolled. A questionnaire was completed by the parents. Age, sex, type of trauma, educational status of the mother and father, the number of siblings, working status of the mother, the number of the individuals in the residence, and the monthly household income were recorded.

Results: The average age of the patients was 7.52±3.24 (range 1-13) years in the ocular trauma group and 7.59±2.47 (range 3-12) years in the control group. Ocular trauma was caused by the children themselves in 68.6% and by another person in 31.4%. The educational status of the mothers/fathers was similar in both groups. The average number of siblings was higher in the ocular trauma group (2.24±1.09) than the control group (1.90±1.02). The average monthly income per capita was lower in the ocular trauma group (113.5±47 US$) than the control group (148.1±77 US$). The monthly income per capita was lower than 100 US$ in 47.7% and 25.6% of the ocular trauma and control group subjects, respectively.

Conclusion: We found that the families of children with ocular trauma were slightly larger and had lower income than the families of the control group subjects.