Epidemiological Profile of Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery in a Tertiary Eye Care Centre

Abstract

Background: Age related cataract is one of the commonest causes of avoidable blindness in India accounting for 66.2% of total causes. Cataract formation is influenced by many factors such as genetic, environmental, systemic and natural.
Purpose: To study the epidemiological profile of patients with cataract.
Material and Methods: A hospital based, cross-sectional study was carried out which included 160 patients with cataract, who attended Eye OPD between September 2019 to March 2020. Distance visual acuity was recorded with Snellen visual acuity chart. Intra-ocular pressure (IOP) was recorded with non-contact tonometer.
Results: Maximum prevalence of cataract was seen in the age group of 51-60 years (34.4%) and 61-70 years (34.4%). Females were more commonly affected (50.62%) as compared to males (49.38%). Most of the patients presented with bilateral cataract (63.13%). Majority of the patients (36.25%) presented with visual acuity between 5/60 -1/60. Nuclear cataract was more common (53.13 %) than cortical cataract (46.87%). Sixty percent patients had IOP between 10-15 mm of Hg. Among the systemic risk factors, 16.25% patients had history of hypertension, 11.25% patients had history of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Conclusion: In our study, increasing age and female gender were commonly associated with cataract. Most of the patients had bilateral cataract at presentation and majority had low vision at presentation. Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus were associated with cataract.