Abstract
Purpose :
This study aimed to determine the prevalence of previous cataract surgery and present lens opacities in 70-year-old people in the Gothenburg area in Sweden.
Methods :
A total of 1182 70-year old people from the H70 study completed the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) and answered questions on previous cataract surgery and/or a diagnosis of cataract as reported from their ophthalmologist. A random subset of subjects from this cohort (n=561) were invited to an ophthalmologic examination including lens photography in a biomicroscope. The Lens Opacity Classification System (LOCSIII) was used for classification and grading of cataracts.
Results :
In this cohort of 70-year-olds, the prevalence of self-reported cataract was 23.4% with 14.6% people stating that they had undergone cataract surgery. Upon eye examination, 13.8% were pseudophakic in either eye and 9.6% in both eyes. The proportion of pseudophakic women (either eye) was 17.2% as compared to 9.8% in men (p=0.014). Pseudophakia in both eyes was evident in 12.8% of the women and in 6.1% of the men (p=0.009). Nuclear and posterior subcapsular opacities were slightly more common in women, p=0.034 and 0.010 respectively. Persons who reported as having been diagnosed with cataract, but who had not been subjected to surgery, exhibited significantly lower scores on all NEI VFQ25 sub-scales except for driving and colour vision. The composite score was 88.14 (median; Interquartile Range [IQR] 77.71-94.77) for persons reporting having cataract and 94.1 (median; IQR 88.41-97.04, p<0.001) for those who reported not having cataract.
Conclusions :
The prevalence of pseudophakia agreed well with that found upon examination in this cohort of 70-year-old people. Significantly lower scores for vision-related quality-of-life was obtained for persons reporting a diagnosis of cataract. Women were twice as likely to have undergone cataract surgery.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.