Publication date: Jul 02, 2026
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
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Korea | Emergency |
| Pandemic | nationwide cohort study |
| NEDIS | |
| South Korea |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | Emergency |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 pandemic |