Spectacle use after routine cataract surgery and vision-related activity limitation

Purpose: To explore the relationship between acquisition of new spectacles after routine cataract surgery and vision-related activity limitation (VRAL) postoperatively. Methods: This cohort study with intervention (survey) included 1329 patients in Sweden who had undergone a second-eye cataract surgery during March 2013. Data from the Swedish National Cataract Register were used, including evaluations of VRAL through the Catquest-9SF questionnaire before and 3 months after cataract surgery. Five months after the second-eye surgery, patients completed another five-item questionnaire about spectacle use preoperatively and postoperatively including an item on surgeons' advice about the need for spectacles. These responses were linked to the Rasch-analysed Catquest-9SF data to identify correlations with VRAL. Results: A total of 1239 patients finally participated in the study after excluding those who did not fulfil the inclusion criteria. Patients who were advised about the need for spectacles postoperatively (n = 387) had a greater (p = 0.039) improvement in the postoperative VRAL compared to patients who were not advised (n = 691). Patients who obtained new spectacles postoperatively (n = 512) also had greater improvement (p = 0.032) compared to those who did not (n = 724). Conclusion: The average improvements in the VRAL after surgery were significantly higher for patients who obtained new distance spectacles postoperatively and for patients who were informed about the need for spectacles by their practitioners

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

Background: No study to date has examined gender differences in crash risk after cataract surgery. Therefore, this study aimed to determine gender-related differences in the effectiveness of first eye cataract surgery in reducing crash risk for older drivers. Design: This retrospective before and after study used whole population linked data to compare the frequency of police reported crashes 1 year before and 1 year after first eye cataract surgery for the years 1997–2006. Participants: All patients aged 60–85 years who had first eye cataract surgery between 1997 and 2006 in Western Australia and were involved in a motor vehicle crash 12 months before and/ or after surgery. Methods: Two separate generalized estimating equation Poisson models were undertaken for males and females to compare crash frequency before and after surgery. Main Outcome Measures: Police-reported crashes before and after cataract surgery. Results: A large proportion of the cohort involved in a crash either 1 year before or 1 year after first eye cataract surgery were male (n = 1091, 63.6%) compared with female (n = 624, 36.3%). Results from the generalized estimating equation Poisson models showed a significant reduction of 15.3% (P = 0.040) in all police reported crash frequency for males 1 year after cataract surgery. However, there was no significant change in crash frequency after surgery for females. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that clinicians may need to take gender into account when advising patients on driving safety before and after cataract surgery