Effect of Cataract Surgery on Falls and Mobility in Independently Living Older Adults

Abstract

Cataract surgery had no association with the occurrence of falls or mobility or balance problems in independently living older adults with a cataract.

Prevalence and Visual Risk Factors for Falls in Bilateral Cataract Patients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

“…Neither visual acuity or stereopsis were independently associated with falls risk despite the fact that participants in this study had much poorer visual acuity and stereopsis than cataract patients in studies from developed countries. 10,28 It should be noted however, that this may be due to the small number of falls recorded in this study. Visual acuity is quite heavily relied on for measuring visual disability caused by cataract and prioritizing patients for surgery.…”

Risk of Fractures Following Cataract Surgery in Medicare Beneficiaries

“…Limitations of the study by Brannan et al include lack of a control group of patients who did not have cataract surgery and a small sample size of 84 total patients. McGwin et al 14 reported that cataract surgery was not associated with decreased odds of falls. They compared patients with cataract who received and did not receive surgery.…”

A longitudinal cohort study of the impact of first- and both-eye cataract surgery on falls and other injuries in Vietnam

“…However, the difference in the number of falls between first- and second-eye surgery was not statistically significant. The participants of this study had considerably poorer presurgery vision than participants of the studies described earlier, which were conducted in developed countries 11,13,44. This may have contributed to the significant reduction in falls found among this Vietnamese cohort after surgery.…”

“…However, the study was not able to control for possible confounders, including visual measurements, and only examined more severe falls. In contrast, a prospective study found that cataract surgery had no impact on falls for an independently living older population 44. However, participants who had one- and both-eye cataract surgery were combined for the analysis and the sample size was small (n=122).…”

“…It is possible that some people may have experienced a change in their visual function after the second assessment. A cognitive assessment was not conducted, and cognitive ability is a well-known confounder in research with an older population 44,48–52. A large number of participants (40%) were unable to return to the hospital to complete the second assessment, which may have increased the apparent effectiveness of cataract surgery.…”