Incidence of ocular injuries in motor vehicle crash victims with concomitant air bag deployment.

OBJECTIVE

To report the incidence of ocular and nonocular trauma in patients admitted to the Henry Ford Hospital via the emergency room since 1994 after a motor vehicle crash (MVC) with and without air bag deployment.

DESIGN

A retrospective cohort study.

METHODS

The Henry Ford Hospital Trauma Registry database was reviewed for patients involved in MVCs with and without air bag deployment since 1994.

RESULTS

From 1994 to 1999, there were only seven air bag-related ocular injuries, representing 4.4% of all MVC-related ocular injuries. From 1997 to 1999, MVC-related ocular injuries with and without air bags represented 5.0% and 12.7%, respectively, of all MVC-related injuries. For that same period, the death rate and average Injury Severity Score for MVCs with air bag deployment were 3.4% and 10.75, compared with 8% and 14.5, respectively, for MVCs without air bag deployment.

CONCLUSIONS

MVC-related ocular injuries associated with air bag deployment are rare, and the incidence of ocular injuries associated with MVCs was lower when air bags were deployed.