Changes in clinical profile of patients undergoing cataract surgery in a public hospital over a 13 year period

Session Details

Session Title: Cataract Surgery Practice Styles/PCO

Session Date/Time: Tuesday 10/10/2017 | 14:00-16:00

Paper Time: 14:06

Venue: Room 4.4

First Author: : E.Assia ISRAEL

Co Author(s): :    A. Sommer   A. Belkin   S. Ofir              

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To assess the changes in the medical and demographic characteristics of patients undergoing cataract surgery in a public hospital over a period of 13 years

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmlogy, Meir Medical Center, Kfar-Saba, Israel

Methods:

A retrospective review of medical records of patients undergoing preoperative assessment before cataract surgery at 3 time frames: October 2000 to January 2001 (100 patients), October 2006 to January 2007 (100 patients), and October 2013 to January 2014 (150 patients).

Results:

There was a significant increase in the average age of patients (70.4, 72.4, 73.9 years, P = 0.026), concomitant systemic co-morbidities (38%, 46%, 64.7%, P < 0.0001). There was an increase in the percentage of patients with narrow palpebral fissures (0%, 2%, 8%, P = 0.003), deep-set eyes (2%, 4%, 18%, P < 0.0001), dense nuclear sclerotic cataract (38%, 34.4%, 56.9%, P = 0.001)

Conclusions:

The results of this study probably reflect the continuous shift of cataract operations from the public in-patient hospitals to ambulatory surgical centers. Practitioners tend to refer older patients and more challenging cases to the public hospitals. This may have a significant impact on cataract surgery economy in the public service as well as on the accessibility of inexperienced residents to relatively simple cases.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE