Cataract surgery - behind the numbers

Introduction: Cataracts remain the main leading cause of blindness worldwide, accounting for half (51%) of all cases. Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in many developed countries. Insufficient statistics in the territory of Bulgaria imposed the carrying out of this study. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Medical University of Varna. The records of all patients with cataract for one year were processed. Patient data was derived from information about gender, age, residency, education, and social status. Specific information encompassed preoperative visual acuity, optical force and type of implanted intraocular lens as well as accompanying diseases. Results: Of all performed interventions, 49.9% were because of cataract. The oldest operated patient was 92 years of age and the youngest was 2 years old, with a median of 72 years. Of all patients included in the study, women represented 61.1% and male - 38.9%. Regarding residence, 83.8% of all patients were living in cities and 16.1% in villages in Bulgaria and 0.1% were foreigners. Retired were 88.6% of the participants, working - 10.5% and 0.9% reported that they were unemployed at the time of the operation. Of all operated eyes 50.9% were right and 49.1% - left. The mean preoperative visual acuity was 0.2. The median of the dioptric force of the implanted lenses was 21.5 D as lenses with such a dopter were implanted to 10.3% of the entire group. Three percent (3%) of the patients enrolled in the study did not have an intraocular lens (IOL) implanted. There was a slight negative statistically significant correlation between the age of the intervention and the operation, according to which rural populations resorted to cataract surgery at lower baseline age than those in urban areas. Conclusion: Cataract is a socially significant disease leading to poor quality of life. The results of the study demonstrate some negative trends associated with the socio-economic status of the country, the cultural and demographic peculiarities of the population.