Recent causes of subconjunctival hemorrhage.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationship between the incidence of subconjunctival hemorrhage (SCH) and age during each season of the year, and to examine recent risk factors for SCH.


METHODS
A total of 161 patients with SCH aged 1-94 years were involved in the study. The age, gender, medical history and ocular history were determined for all subjects.


RESULTS
The peak age of onset of SCH was between 61 and 70 years. Fourteen patients (77.7%) had trauma or contact-lens-induced injury, and 4 patients (22.3%) among the younger patients aged 0-40 years had an unknown etiology. Among the older patients aged 61-94 years, the chief risk factor for SCH was hypertension (47.5%), followed by unknown etiology (39.4%) and then diabetes (13.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the major current risk factors for SCH are trauma and contact-lens-induced injury in younger patients, while hypertension is the main factor in older patients. The incidence of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis was decreased.
Mimura
Tatsuya
T
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. mimurat-tky@umin.ac.jp
Usui
Tomohiko
T
Yamagami
Satoru
S
Funatsu
Hideharu
H
Noma
Hidetaka
H
Honda
Norihiko
N
Amano
Shiro
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D003261:Contact Lenses / Q000009:adverse effects; D005130:Eye Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons