{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,8]],"date-time":"2026-05-08T08:23:21Z","timestamp":1778228601913,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]],"date-time":"2021-03-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1616976000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Malawi, Surgery Department"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>To describe the epidemiology and visual outcome of patients with ocular trauma treated at Queen Elizabeth Central hospital in Malawi.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A prospective, observational study was undertaken from September 2017 to December 2017. Data on socio-demographic features, aetiology of trauma, type of ocular injury pre-referral pathway and treatment of ocular trauma was collected as the exposure variables. The main outcome variable was best corrected visual acuity at 8 weeks following initial visit.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A total of 102 patients (103 eyes) with ocular trauma were recruited with loss of follow up of 11 participants at 8 weeks following recruitment. The most affected age group were children under 11 years old (35.3%), followed by young adults of age between 21\u201330 years (22.5%). The male-to-female ratio for ocular injury was 2.8:1. Most participants had closed globe injuries (n = 72, 70.6%), with over half the population injured by blunt objects (n = 62, 60.8%). Furthermore, among the adult population, majority (n = 19 38%) were injured on the road during assaults (n = 24, 48%), while most paediatric injuries (n = 32, 61.5%) occurred at home during play. The incidence of monocular blindness was 25.3% at eight weeks after the first presentation. Factors that were associated with monocular blindness on multivariate analysis were living in rural areas and open globe injuries.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Ocular trauma led to monocular blindness in a quarter of the study population. There is need for preventive education of ocular injuries at both family and community level.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0246155","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]],"date-time":"2021-03-29T17:23:00Z","timestamp":1617038580000},"page":"e0246155","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Characteristics and visual outcome of ocular trauma patients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Malawi"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9537-8679","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Thokozani","family":"Zungu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3581-523X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Shaffi","family":"Mdala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chatonda","family":"Manda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0166-9393","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Halima Sumayya","family":"Twabi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Petros","family":"Kayange","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0246155.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.21502\/limuj.006.02.2017","article-title":"Pattern of ocular trauma in Benghazi eye hospital, Benghazi, Libya","volume":"2","author":"M Gebril","year":"2017","journal-title":"Libyan Int Med Univ J"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0246155.ref002","first-page":"137","article-title":"Epidemiological survey of traumatic eye injury in a Southwestern Nigeria tertiary hospital","volume":"30","author":"IA Ajayi","year":"2014","journal-title":"Pakistan J Ophthalmol Pak J Ophthalmol"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0246155.ref003","first-page":"140","article-title":"Pattern of ocular trauma in Kuching, Malaysia","volume":"3","author":"PS Mallika","year":"2008","journal-title":"Malaysian Fam Physician"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0246155.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1076\/opep.5.3.143.8364","article-title":"The global impact of eye injuries","volume":"5","author":"AD Negrel","year":"1998","journal-title":"Ophthalmic Epidemiol"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0246155.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1076\/opep.6.2.85.1560","article-title":"Epidemiology of eye injuries in rural Tanzania","volume":"6","author":"D Abraham","year":"1999","journal-title":"Ophthalmic Epidemiol"},{"issue":"May","key":"pone.0246155.ref006","first-page":"41","article-title":"Eye Injuries: Improving our practice","volume":"28","author":"D Patel","year":"2017","journal-title":"Community Eye Heal"},{"key":"pone.0246155.ref007","unstructured":"Malawi population [Internet]. 2020 trading economics. 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