Cataract and Associated Factors Among OPD Attendees in a Teaching Institute of North East India

Abstract

Background: In India 66% of blindness among individuals aged 50 yrs and above is attributable to cataract. Cataract has multiple etiologies and many of them are modifiable. But data regarding burden and correlates of cataract among OPD attendees in Northeast India are insufficient. Objectives: To estimate the proportion of cataract among the attendees of ophthalmology OPD of a teaching hospital of Northeast India and to study the factors associated with it. Methods: This hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted during 7 th February to 6 th March 2020, using a pre-tested structured interview schedule, among 330 adults attending ophthalmology OPD of Agartala Government Medical College, chosen by consecutive sampling. Result: Proportion of cataract among the attendees was 36.7% and it was 51.5% among the subjects aged ≥50 years. Age, family type, literacy, diabetes mellitus and hypertension had significant associations with cataract ( P < 0.05). Logistic regression model has identified age ≥ 50 yrs (OR: 5.57, 95% CI: 2.98-10.43) and illiteracy (OR: 2.67, 95% CI: 1.55-4.59) as the significant predictors for developing cataract ( P < 0.05) in the study population. Conclusion: Proportion of cataract among OPD attendees is 36.7%, which is higher than the community prevalence of cataract in Tripura. Promoting literacy, reducing family size, blood sugar and blood pressure may bring down the proportion of cataract in this population.

Demographic Characteristics and Associated Disorders of Cataract Patients Attended Makkah Hospital in Aden, Yemen

“…In our study, we found that the most of the study cataract patients were from urban areas (56.5%). Das et al [18] reported that proportion of cataract among participants from urban and rural areas were 38% and 35.4% respectively, which was not significant (P > 0.05).…”

“…Das et al [18] reported in their study that among the cataract study patients, (55.5%) were females, while males were 44.5% (ratio female to male 1.3:1).…”

“…In a study conducted in India [18] found that 32.7% of the study subjects were housewives, 20% were daily labourer, 18.8% got retired from job, 16% were office goer, 5.2% had their own business and the rest were students.…”

Decline in unmet needs for cataract surgery among the ageing population in India: findings from LASI, wave-1

“…In addition, socio-cultural factors of patients, their health systems, and awareness play an important role in this uptake, which needs to be explored further. Moreover, a probable reason for the central and north-eastern zones to have fewer cataract surgeries may be due to disparities in health infrastructure, geographic remoteness, and differences among the participants studied, which can also impede access challenges ( 31 , 32 ). Moreover, health-seeking behaviour also varies between the regions, which could also be a probable reason for this difference ( 33 ).…”