Epidemiology of globe injury repair mechanisms in the TriNetX US collaborative network database: retrospective cohort study

To analyze demographics, incidence, and prevalence of globe injury repair mechanisms in the TriNetX United States population from 2013 to 2023. Retrospective cohort study of globe injury repair mechanisms in the TriNetX United States Collaborative Network database from 2013 to 2023. CPT codes from the ICD-10 classification system were utilized to identify repair methods for globe injuries (65275, 65280, 65285, 65286). Demographics were analyzed using two-factor ANOVA for age and chi-squared tests for race, ethnicity, and sex. Incidence and prevalence were analyzed yearly and cumulatively. Of the 119,347,853 subjects in TriNetX, 231,286 cases of globe injuries were identified. Demographics varied by repair category for age and sex ratios. An ANOVA showed a significant difference between age distribution over the four subtypes (mean age 47.2 ± 21.6 years, p < 0.001). The most common procedure was repair of non-perforating corneal lacerations with or without foreign body removal (n = 182,193) and was the only cohort with a female-predominant population (n = 119,990; 65.89%). Chi-squared tests revealed significant differences by sex (p < 0.001), ethnicity (p < 0.001), and race (p < 0.001). Incidence showed variation from 2013 to 2019; however, a large decrease in incidence was noted from 2019 to 2021. Our findings align with previous research indicating decreased globe injury incidence during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, except for perforating corneal and/or scleral lacerations without uveal tissue involvement. Our study reveals a shift towards higher affected female population than previous literature.