The following is a summary of “Epidemiology of Consumer Product-Related Ocular Injuries in the Incarcerated Population,” published in the January 2025 issue of Ophthalmology by Mothy et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to describe the epidemiology of consumer product-related ocular injuries in United States (US) among individuals in incarceration and identify preventable causes.
They analyzed the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database for eye injury cases from 2014 to 2023, identifying incarcerated cases with the terms “prison,” “jail,” “inmate,” and “incarcerate.” Data on injury year, diagnosis, product code, and demographics were extracted and compared between incarcerated and general populations using SPSS version 29 (IBM Corp.). A narrative analysis categorized ocular trauma causes among individuals who were incarcerated.
The results showed an estimated 16,44,841 consumer product-related ocular injury cases in the US between 2014 and 2023, including 2,683 cases among individuals in incarceration. A higher proportion of injuries in the incarcerated population involved African American individuals (43.42% vs 17.18%), males (92.22% vs 68.54%), alcohol use (4.11% vs 0.64%), drug use (3.91% vs 0.82%), and hospitalization (4.96% vs 1.39%). Contusions were less frequent in incarcerated individuals (27.21% vs 41.31%), while foreign body injuries occurred more often (24.38% vs 18.75%). Penal labor, including cleaning (13.74%), welding (8.25%), yard work (5.92%), and power grinding (5.72%), accounted for 36.36% of injuries. Sports-related activities contributed to 26.50% of injuries, with basketball responsible for 16.82%.
Investigators concluded that the epidemiology of ocular injury in individuals in incarceration differed from the general US population, with penal labor and sports-related injuries constituting a proportion of cases, highlighting the critical need for protective eyewear.
Source: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08820538.2025.2450685
