Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate trends of cataract surgeries in Ontario between 1992 and 2004.
Methods: :
The number of cataract surgeries performed in Ontario, Canada, from April 1992 to March 2005 was obtained from the Ontario Health Insurance Program. The Ontario population distribution by age was obtained from Statistics Canada for the same time period. The estimated prevalence of cataract was calculated to provide the number of cataract surgeries per 1000 persons at risk. The number of ophthalmologists was provided from the Ontario Medical Association.
Results: :
The number of cataract surgeries in Ontario increased from 44,943 in 1992 to 109,506 in 2004 (143.6%,12.08% annual increase). The number of cataract surgeries per 1000 patients at risk to develop cataract increased from 64.6 in 1992 to 115.65 in 2004 (79%, 4.97% increase per year). This rate was strongly positively correlated with time and with the increase in Ontario population (r= 0.920 and r=0.922, respectively). The number of ophthalmologists increased by 2.2% from 1992 to 2004. This change was not correlated with the cataract rates (r=0.475). However, the number of ophthalmologists per million population had a highly negative correlation with cataract surgery rates (r= –0.757).
Conclusions: :
There has been a significant increase in cataract surgeries in Ontario relative to the affected population despite a decrease in the number of Ophthalmologists per million population.
Keywords: cataract • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence