Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients Admitted to the Ophthalmology Department Through the Emergency Department: A Tertiary Hospital Experience

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics, indications for hospitalization, surgical requirements, and visual outcomes of patients admitted from the emergency department to the ophthalmology department of a tertiary hospital, with a particular focus on ocular trauma and hospitalization patterns.
Material and Methods: This retrospective study included 105 patients admitted from the emergency department to the ophthalmology department between April 2022 and April 2025. Demographic and clinical characteristics, admission diagnoses, ocular examination findings at admission and discharge, length of hospital stay, surgical interventions, and systemic steroid use were recorded. Patients were categorized according to trauma status (trauma vs. non-trauma), trauma type (blunt, pen-etrating, or chemical), and length of hospital stay.
Results: The mean age was 50.4±22.9 years, and 66% of patients were male. The median hospital stay was 3 days, with 46.6% of patients hospitalized for >3 days. Ocular trauma accounted for 53.4% of admissions, with blunt trauma (54.5%) being the most common injury type, followed by penetrating trauma (38.2%). The leading admis-sion diagnoses were retinal detachment, penetrating ocular trauma, and eyelid laceration. Trauma patients were significantly younger and more likely to have left-eye involvement than non-trauma patients. Surgical intervention was required in 69.9% of all cases. Visual acuity improved in both the trauma and non-trauma groups, with greater improvement observed in blunt trauma than in penetrating trauma. Longer hospitalization was associated with poorer baseline visual acuity.
Conclusion: Ocular trauma was the leading cause of hospitalization from the emergency department, with blunt trauma representing the most common injury type. Retinal detachment was the most frequent non-traumatic indication for hospitalization, and nearly 70% of patients required surgical intervention.

Keywords: Emergency department, hospitalization, ocular trauma, retinal detachment, visual acuity