Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
Open Access

Abstract

Baseline Cataract Status and 11-year Mortality: A Population-Based Study from a Mediterranean Population

Maria Pastor-Valero, Juan Jose Miralles-Bueno and Vicente Chaqués-Alepuz

Purpose: To examine the relationship between cataract, previous cataract surgery and risk of mortality in an elderly Mediterranean population.
Methods: This is a survival analysis of data from the Spanish centre of the European Eye Study (EUREYE) to examine 11-year-mortality risk among participants with previous cataract surgery or cataract compared to noncataract participants diagnosed at the start of the study.
Results: After adjustment for age-related maculopathy (ARM), age, smoking, physical activity, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, previous stroke and heart attack, only the cataract no surgery group in men showed a significant elevated increased risk of mortality. The adjusted Hazard Ratio (HR) for the cataract no surgery men was, 1.96 95% CI (1.11-3.47) p=0.020 compared to non-cataract men. Conclusion: We observed an increased risk of mortality in men with cataract in this elderly population. These results might indicate a differential use of medical services by elderly men compared to women. In addition, the lack of an increased mortality risk among the cataract surgery groups might be explained by the improvement in visual function. Future studies should include information on medical care use as well as information on measurements of pre and post-operative visual acuity.