Gender‐related differences in cataract surgery outcome: a 5‐year follow‐up

Abstract

ABSTRACT.Purpose: A prospective, longitudinal, population-based cohort study was performed to analyse gender-related differences in subjective and objective visual function 5 years after cataract surgery. Methods: All patients (n = 810) who underwent cataract surgery during a 1-year period at Norrlands University Hospital in Umea˚, Sweden, were studied with visual acuity (VA) data and questionnaires (VF-14) before and after surgery, as well as 5 years later. Five hundred and thirty patients (177 men, 353 women) answered the questionnaire, constituting 90% (530 ⁄ 590) of the survivors. Four hundred and sixty-seven (156 men, 311 women) also underwent an eye examination. Results: The women were significantly older (P = 0.009) and were more often operated on both eyes (P = 0.005). Before surgery and postoperatively, the women had a significantly lower age-and VA-adjusted VF-14 score (P = 0.000 and P = 0.036, respectively). This difference was not significant 5 years after surgery (P = 0.16). Five years after surgery, a significantly larger proportion of women had a decline of more than 0.1 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution of the better-seeing eye (P = 0.013). There were no significant gender-related differences in the operated eye. Conclusion: Female cataract surgery patients assess their visual function worse than males after adjustment for age and VA preoperatively and postoperatively. These differences were not significant 5 years after surgery although the men had better best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of their better eye. It is important to be aware of gender-related differences in perception when performing questionnaire-based outcome studies.

Comparison of Patient's Satisfaction Level after Different Types of Posterior Chamber Intraocular Lens Implantation

“…But study done by Lundqvist found that gender significantly affects patient's satisfaction. According to their findings women assess their vision worse than males [7]. Our results are contradictory to Lundqvist's findings.…”

Impact of gender on first eye cataract surgery and motor vehicle crash risk for older drivers

“…Cataract surgery is known to bring about significant improvements in objective visual measures including visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, which are important for driving 19,20 . Although few studies have investigated gender differences in the effectiveness of cataract surgery, current evidence indicates that there are no differences in objective visual outcomes between males and females for the operated eye 14 …”

Relationship of sociodemographic variables with outcomes after cataract surgery

“…10,[17][18][19][20] To our knowledge, however, there have been few studies similar to ours, that is, studies that have focused on exploring differences in outcomes as a function of sociodemographic variables. Some studies have reported differences according to sex 21 and even the level of education, 7 but most commonly the only factor noted is age. [22][23][24] What could be the reasons why older patients who are socially dependent and have lower levels of education have a lower probability of achieving a minimal clinically important improvement after cataract surgery?…”