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Prevalence of cataract surgery and post-surgical visual outcomes in an urban Asian population: the Singapore Malay Eye Study
  1. R Lavanya1,2,
  2. T Y Wong1,2,3,4,5,
  3. T Aung1,2,3,
  4. D T H Tan1,2,3,
  5. S-M Saw2,3,4,
  6. W T Tay2,
  7. J Jin Wang5,6,
  8. for the SiMES team
  1. 1
    Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore
  2. 2
    Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore
  3. 3
    Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  4. 4
    Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  5. 5
    Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  6. 6
    Centre for Vision Research, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
  1. Dr J J Wang, Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, 32 Gisborne Street, East Melbourne, VIC 3002 Australia, jiejw{at}unimelb.edu.au; jiejin_wang{at}wmi.usyd.edu.au

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to describe the prevalence and visual outcomes of cataract surgery in an urban Asian population.

Methods: This was a population-based study of 3280 Singapore Malays aged 40–80 years (response rate 78.7%). Participants had a standardised interview and comprehensive ocular examination. Poor post-operative visual outcome was defined as visual acuity ⩽20/60 in operated eyes of unilateral cataract extractions or in the better-seeing eye of bilateral cataract extractions. Factors associated with poor visual outcome were assessed.

Results: Of 3280 participants, 284 (men 52.3%) had unilateral cataract extractions (age-standardised prevalence 4.7%, 95% CI 4.2% to 5.4%) and 154 persons (54%) had bilateral extractions. Older age, male sex and the presence of diabetes were significant factors associated with having had cataract surgery. Poor visual outcomes were present in 10.8% of the operated eyes using best-corrected visual acuity. Diabetic retinopathy (25.5%), glaucoma (17%), age-related macular degeneration (14.9%) and posterior capsular opacification (14.9%) were the main causes of poor visual outcome after surgery. Under-corrected refractive error accounted for 60% of patients with post-operative presenting visual acuity of ⩽20/60.

Conclusions: Five per cent of the sample of the Malay population aged 40–80 years in Singapore had cataract surgery. One in ten had post-operative best-corrected visual acuity of 20/60 or worse, largely related to concomitant retinal diseases.

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Footnotes

  • Funding: This study was supported by the National Medical Research Council Grants No 0796/2003, 0863/2004 and CSI/0002/2005, and Biomedical Research Council Grant No 501/1/25-5, with additional support from the Singapore Tissue Network and the Ministry of Health, Singapore.

  • Competing interests: None declared.

  • Ethics approval: Ethics approval was obtained from the Singapore Eye Research Institute Institutional Review Board.

  • Patient consent: Obtained.

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