The following is a summary of “Disability-Adjusted life years resulting from ocular injury among deployed service members, 2001–2020,” published in the May 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Travor et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study assessing the impact of using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) as a quantifiable metric.

They included US service members with ocular injuries sustained in combat zones from Jan 1, 2001, to May 19, 2020. Health states and injury durations were identified using Defence and Veterans Eye Injury and Vision Registry data. Disability weights from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study were applied. US life expectancy data calculated the average injury recovery or death duration. Incidence rates for ocular injury and DALYs were determined using Defense Manpower Data Center reports.

The results showed that 17,545 patients had ocular injuries, resulting in 11,214 DALYs (average 0.64 DALYs per patient and 20.6 DALYs per 10,000 US service members yearly). Severe impairment of distance vision (77.9%) and blindness (10.6%) contributed most to DALYs. Permanent disability, from 9.3% of permanent ocular injuries, accounted for 99.5% of DALYs. The yearly average rate of ocular injuries was 32.0 cases per 10,000 US service members. The most common injury was foreign body (2,754 occurrences), followed by abrasion (2,419 occurrences) and multiple injury types (1,429 occurrences). Patients with multiple injury types had the highest DALYs (2,485), followed by abrasion (725) and foreign body (461).

Investigators concluded that DALY per case among US service members was higher than in the general population, emphasizing differences in permanent injury probabilities and a need for further, more extensive research. 

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0161642023008631