Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the outcomes of cataract surgery and the causes of vision impairment aged 50 or above in rural east China, Funing county, Jiangsu province.
Methods:
The persons with the history of cataract surgery were selected from the data base of Jiangsu eye study. The subjects with vision acuity lower than 20/63 were defined as vision impairment. The causes of visual impairment were analyzed. Chi square test was used to describe the distribution of visual impairment after cataract surgery.
Results:
Among all 5974 individuals received visual acuity and eye examinations, 1488 persons had cataract and 110 persons(140 eyes) had had the history of cataract surgery. The prevalence of cataract surgery was 1.85%.The prevalence of postoperative presenting visual impairment was 70% (98/140 eyes). The major cause of the visual impairment were surgical complications including posterior capsule opacification (36.73%)and refractive error(23.47%). The causes had no relations with surgery such as retinal disease (15.31%), glaucoma (8.16%), corneal opacities (9.18%) were also important to the visual impairment after cataract surgery.
Conclusions:
The prevalence of cataract surgery was relatively low while the prevalence of visual impairment after cataract surgery was high in Jiangsu Funing County. Lack of regular follow-up and incorrectly management of the surgical complications were the main causes of high prevalence of visual impairment after cataract surgery.