Nationwide Analysis of Eye-Related Emergency Department Visits in South Korea: NEDIS-EYE REPORT 1

To analyze the diagnosis of eye-related emergency department (ED) visits in South Korea and to investigate the national burden of eye-related visits in the ED and their trends over time.

Data were obtained from the National Emergency Department Information System in South Korea between 2014 and 2022. A total of 74,714,270 ED visits were analyzed. Eye-related ED visits were identified using diagnosis codes at the time of discharge from ED. Temporal trends in annual ED visits were analyzed. Eye-related ED visits were categorized into three groups based on the emergent categories (emergent, unlikely-emergent, and indeterminate).

During the 9-year study period, eye-related ED visits accounted for 1,356,169 (1.82%) visits. Total ED visits significantly decreased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a partial recovery by 2022 to 85% of 2019 levels. The number of eye-related ED visits similarly decreased in 2020, but it continued to decline until 2022, with its proportion dropping from 2.08% in 2014 to 1.58% in 2022 (rate: -0.0547%/year, 95% confidence interval: [-0.0723, -0.0371], p < 0.001). The SIR of total ED visits declined by 6.12% from 2014 to 2022. Among the eye-related ED visits, there were emergent (19.7%), unlikely-emergent (13.2%), and indeterminate (67.1%) cases.

Eye-related ED visits in South Korea decreased over the 9-year study period and the proportion of emergent cases increased. The steady decline in eye-related ED visits, along with an increase in emergent cases, may have implications for the allocation of ED resources in the field of ophthalmology.