[Epidemiology of patients with eye-related emergencies in a university hospital: A cross-sectional study identifying factors associated with true emergency].

PURPOSE: To describe epidemiological characteristics of outpatients examined by university medical center ophthalmologists in emergency rooms (ER), and to determine factors associated with true emergencies.

METHODS: A monocentric cross-sectional study including all patients examined by an ophthalmologist in the ER of in the university hospital of Nancy over a two-month period was conducted. Demographics and medical characteristics were assessed. The visits were categorized by ophthalmologists as true emergencies or not.

RESULTS: Among the 1,308 patients included, the median (IQR) age was 49 (32-64) years, and 56 % were males. The main reasons for seeking care were eye redness (32.6 %), eye pain (30.0 %), eye trauma (26.1 %), and visual loss (23.3 %). Nearly 40 % of the consultations were judged as not truly emergent. Factors significantly associated with true emergencies were: age under 60, male gender, some reasons for seeking care (visual loss, eye redness, eye pain), and a period of less than 3 days between symptom occurrence and the ER visit.

CONCLUSION: The proportion of non-emergent ER visits was relatively high, and factors associated with true emergencies have been identified in our study. Standardized protocols may be useful to help emergency physicians and nurses to determine when to refer a patient to an ophthalmologist.