Background/aim: A third of elderly people fall each year. Poor vision is associated with increased risk of falls. The authors aimed to determine if first eye cataract surgery reduces the risk of falling, and to measure associated health gain. Methods: 306 women aged over 70, with cataract, were randomised to expedited (approximately 4 weeks) or routine (12 months wait) surgery. Falls were ascertained by diary, with follow up every 3 months. Health status was measured after 6 months. Results: Visual function improved in the operated group (corrected binocular acuity improved by 0.25 logMAR units; 8% had acuity worse than 6/12 compared with 37% of controls). Over 12 months of follow up, 76 (49%) operated participants fell at least once, and 28 (18%) fell more than once. 69 (45%) unoperated participants fell at least once, 38 (25%) fell more than once. Rate of falling was reduced by 34% in the operated group (rate ratio 0.66, 95% confidence interval 0.45 to 0.96, p = 0.03). Activity, anxiety, depression, confidence, visual disability, and handicap all improved in the operated group compared with the control group. Four participants in the operated group had fractures (3%), compared with 12 (8%) in the control group (p = 0.04). Conclusion: First eye cataract surgery reduces the rate of falling, and risk of fractures and improves visual function and general health status.

second eye cataract surgery improves visual disability and general health status. The effect on rate of falling remains uncertain.

Acuity, stereopsis, and contrast sensitivity each contributed to quality of life, across a range of measures, in elderly women with cataract. Acuity was marginally the most consistently and generally the most strongly associated, but in some analyses stereopsis was more important. Change in quality of life was associated with change in stereopsis and contrast sensitivity.

Aim: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of first eye cataract surgery compared with no surgery from a health service and personal social services perspective. Methods: An economic evaluation undertaken alongside a randomised controlled trial of first eye cataract surgery in secondary care ophthalmology clinics. A sample of 306 women over 70 years old with bilateral cataracts was randomised to cataract surgery (expedited, approximately four weeks) or control (routine, 12 months wait); 75% of participants had baseline acuity of 6/12 or better. Outcomes included falls and the EuroQol EQ-5D. Results: The operated group cost a mean £2004 (bootstrapped) more than the control group over one year (95% confidence interval (CI), £1363 to £2833) (p,0.001), but experienced on average 0.456 fewer falls, an incremental cost per fall prevented of £4390. The bootstrapped mean gain in quality adjusted life years (QALYs) per patient was 0.056 (95% CI, 0.006 to 0.108) (p,0.001). The incremental cost-utility ratio was £35 704, above the currently accepted UK threshold level of willingness to pay per QALY of £30 000. However, in an analysis modelling costs and benefits over patients' expected lifetime, the incremental cost per QALY was £13 172, under conservative assumptions. Conclusions: First eye cataract surgery, while cost-ineffective over the trial period, was probably cost-effective over the participants' remaining lifetime.

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