REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

In the statistics for occupational injuries, eye injuries account for 3-5 % (Tugman 1955, Mattos 1958, Lindstedt 1966), when minor traumas are disregarded. In Finland before 1936 eye injuries made up about 11 % of all occupational injuries, but since then, including the years 1950-59, the proportion has been between 3.1 and 3.7 % (Table I). From the beginning of 1936 the statistics refer only to accidents in which the rate of compensation exceeded 200 Fmk (= 146 Fmk at the level of July 1977) (Official Statistics of Finland). Although eye injuries accounted for only 3.1-3.7 % of all occupational injuries, they accounted for 27 % of all disablement cases during the thirties and for 11 % during the fifties. In the different clinics of Europe the proportion of PEIs among all eye injuries varies widely, averaging 36.8 % for adults and 42.2 % for children. The proportion of PEIs among all in-patients of eye hospitals averages 5.3 % (Werner 1933 and 1952, Lambah 1962, Oksala 1964, Holland 1964, Muller-Jensen 1964, Wollensak & Hornung 1965, Kobor 1965, Sollner 1966, KovaEik 1967, Remky et al. 1967, Muller 1968). The proportion of occupational injuries among PEIs averages about 43 % (RoperHall 1959, Kleinhans 1961, Ragnetti & Massimeo 1965, Pietruschka & Paul 1966, Waubke et al. 1968, Pockrand et al. 1974). For the more industrialized regions the figures are higher than for the agricultural regions.