Research Article Volume 3 Issue 3 - June 2017 DOI: 10.19080/JOJO.2017.03.555615 JOJ Ophthal Copyright © All rights are reserved by David Ben Kumah Paediatric Ocular Injuries Associated with Ghanaian Recreational Activities in the Ashaiman Municipality, Ghana Paula Sefadzi Nkrumah Gatsey 1 , Michel Pascal Tchiakpe 2 , David Ben Kumah 2 *, Mavis Pearl Kwabla 3 , Felix Agyemang-Mireku 2 and Kwabena Gyabaah Yeboah 2 1 Hohoe Municipal Hospital, Ghana 2 Department of Optometry and Visual Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana Submission: April 11, 2017; Published: June 13, 2017 *Corresponding author: David Ben Kumah, Department of Optometry and Visual Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, Email: Introduction An ocular injury is a physical damage to the eye, including all its structures-eyelids, cornea, anterior chamber, lens, retina, extra ocular muscles and nerves [1,2]. Sports form a very important aspect of children’s life. Children usually engage in recreational activities, which help in their development as well as serve as a form of exercise. These activities, however, can cause minor as well as catastrophic injuries to their eyes [3]. The risk of children easily getting injured in the eye is high because they are unable to avoid hazards. Most of these hazards are intrinsic in the kind of games children play [4]. Blindness in childhood may interfere with the normal development and education of a child. Existing data on magnitude and distribution of ocular trauma in developing countries is very scarce and are difficult to interpret; reporting is extremely poor especially because of the completely different settings of the occurrence of ocular trauma [5]. There are about 1.5 million blind children, and this number appears to be increasing. Nearly 500,000 children became blind every year (that is, one child gets blind every minute) and about half of them die within 1 or 2 years of becoming blind [6,7]. Approximately one-third of the total economic cost of blindness was thought to be due to childhood blindness [6]. Children must therefore be protected from activities that cause harm to the eye. Ocular injuries range from minor ones such as getting sand JOJ Ophthal 3(3): JOJO.MS.ID.555615 (2017) 001 Abstract Background: Recreational activities are essential part of a child’s development. Unfortunately, such activities may expose the child to eye injuries which contribute to blindness in children. The study assessed the ocular injuries which occur in children who engage in Ghanaian recreational activities and the health seeking behaviours of parents/guardians when a child had an ocular injury. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, records in the Tema General Hospital were reviewed. Questionnaires administered to children and parents/caretakers, and interviews of healthcare professionals served as data sources for the study. Results: Over 70% of paediatric ocular injuries were found to occur at home. Child abuse (42.2%), thermal injury (36.5%) and chemical splash (22.2%) were the main causes of ocular injuries as reported by the sampled children. According to 11 parents and 201 children who responded to questions on post-injury seeking behaviour, 39.4% did not visit the clinic due to financial constraints, 23.1% took no action, only 19.7% visited the hospital with 8.7% resorting to self-medication. Paediatric ocular injury occurred most frequently during football games (36.1%). Children aged 6-10 years were found to be most prone to eye injury as 57.1% of the cases were among this age group. Males were found to be more likely to sustain ocular injuries compared to females. Conclusion: Over 80% of ocular injuries were due to games children played with the rest being open fire and chemical burns. Home management of ocular injury was common among respondents with the reason being financial constraints. Keywords: Ocular injuries; Traumatic conjunctivitis; Paediatric; Recreational activities