Survey in twelve countries reveals major gap in cataract awareness
Session Details
Session Title: Presented Poster Session: FLACS & Others
Venue: Poster Village: Pod 1
First Author: : M.Morral SPAIN
Co Author(s): : J. Guell D. Elies C. Perez-Vives
Abstract Details
Purpose:
To evaluate the awareness of the cataract condition among elderly people, their attitude towards cataract vision impairment, the knowledge about the different cataract treatments and the evaluation of the experience of cataract surgery in those patients that have already undergone cataract surgery.
Setting:
Institut de Microcirurgia Ocular, Barcelona, Spain; and Alcon Laboratories
Methods:
A custom-designed survey was distributed to people over the age of 60, primarily online where available, or via telephone interviews and face-to-face interviews in certain countries to reach the desired population. The countries involved were United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Egypt. The survey was designed to achieve statistical significance for those over the age of 60 with a 95% confidence rate and a margin of error of less than 5%. The survey was conducted by Market Probe International, Inc., an independent, global market research company from December 2016 through January 2017.
Results:
5104 people completed the survey. On average, 80% of respondents had little or no understanding of cataract disease, 24% think that cataracts should fully develop before seeking treatment, 32% would rely on their doctor to decide on the appropriate treatment option if cataract surgery was recommended to them. Despite 51% believe they would still need vision correction after surgery, 76% would be willing to pay for advanced technologies to improve their visual function. Of the 15% who had already undergone cataract surgery, 81% agreed it had improved their quality of life, although 75% were not informed of advanced technologies.
Conclusions:
Although cataracts are the leading cause of preventable blindness in people 60+, cataract disease awareness and population’s knowledge on the different treatment options of cataracts are still limited. Improvement in quality of life after cataract surgery is generally perceived, but education on currently available technologies is to be ameliorated to give patients the possibility of a fully informed decision on their treatment.
Financial Disclosure:
is employed by a for-profit company with an interest in the subject of the presentation, research is funded, fully or partially, by a competing company
