Prevalence and associated factors of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression in ocular trauma: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Ocular trauma is a major cause of morbidity and carries significant psychosocial consequences. OBJECTIVE: To systematically synthesizes existing research on the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression among individuals with ocular trauma and identifies the associated risk factors for these conditions. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. METHODS: A systematic search was done across three databases for the years 2000 to 2025. It was limited to peer-reviewed articles published in English and used a set of search terms. Two independent reviewers looked at the titles, abstracts, and full-text articles to see if they met the set eligibility criteria. They then extracted the data independently. We used the National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tools (NIH-QAT) to check the quality of the studies that were included. The review was not prospectively registered. RESULTS: Out of the 581 articles that were retrieved, 508 were evaluated based on their abstract and title (20 of which qualified for full-text review). Finally, ten studies were included. Among the included studies, depression was the most commonly reported mental health issue with prevalence ranging from (15%-66.7%), followed by anxiety (15%-37.9%) and post-traumatic stress disorder (15%-30.36%). Further, four categories of risk factors, including personal, clinical, psychological, and environmental, associated with PTSD, anxiety, and depression were obtained. CONCLUSION: Ocular trauma is associated with significant psychological morbidity, with depression being the most commonly reported outcome, followed by anxiety and PTSD. However, findings should be interpreted with caution due to the limited number of studies, small sample sizes, and methodological heterogeneity. Despite these limitations, the findings highlight the importance of routine mental health screening in ophthalmic settings and the development of targeted interventions addressing identified risk factors to reduce psychological burden and support recovery. No external funding was received.