Cataract surgery improves life expectancy

Sunday, September 22 2013 | 00 h 00 min | News

Patients who undergo cataract surgery live longer than those who don’t.

According to an article written by Australian researchers and published in Ophthalmology, patients who’d had surgery had a 40% lower long-term risk of death. The study involved 354 people, 49 years of age or older, with cataract-related vision loss. Some underwent surgery, others did not. They were followed from 1992 to 2007.

This “suggests to ophthalmologists that correcting cataract patients’ visual impairment results in improved outcomes beyond that of the eye and vision, and has important impacts on general health,” said Jie Jin Wang, one of the lead researchers.

The link between cataract correction and the reduction of mortality risk, however, remains unclear. Among the factors deemed “plausible,” the researchers list better physical and emotional well-being, optimism, greater confidence associated with independent living as a result of improved vision and an improved ability to comply with prescription medications.