Tseng VL, et al. - The link between cataract surgery and total and cause-specific mortality was contemplated in this trial, in older women with cataract. The data shed light on the connection between cataract surgery with lower risk for total and cause-specific mortality. However, whether this link was elucidated by the intervention of cataract surgery remained unclear. An advanced research regarding the interplay of cataract surgery, systemic disease, and disease-related mortality would be beneficial for improved patient care.

Methods

• The plot of this research was a prospective cohort study.
• It comprised of nationwide data cumulated from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) clinical trial and observational study associated with the Medicare claims database.
• The eligible candidates were 65 years or older with a diagnosis of cataract in the linked Medicare claims database.
• The WHI data were collected from January 1, 1993, through December 31, 2015.
• Data analysis was carried out from July 1, 2014, through September 1, 2017.
• The exposure included cataract surgery as determined by Medicare claims codes.
• The outcomes of interest consisted of all-cause mortality and mortality attributed to vascular, cancer, accidental, neurologic, pulmonary, and infectious causes.
• A comparison was performed of the mortality rates by cataract surgery status via log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for demographics, systemic and ocular comorbidities, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, and physical activity.

Results

• The enrollees included 74,044 women with cataract in the WHI included 41,735 who underwent cataract surgery.
• The study group reported a mean (SD) age of 70.5 (4.6) years; the most common ethnicity was white (64,430 [87.0%]), followed by black (5,293 [7.1%]) and Hispanic (1,723 [2.3%]).
• The mortality rate was disclovered to be 2.56 per 100 person-years in both groups.
• An association was noted between the cataract surgery with lower all-cause mortality (adjusted hazards ratio [AHR], 0.40; 95% CI, 0.39-0.42) and lower mortality specific to vascular (AHR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.39-0.46), cancer (AHR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.29-0.34), accidental (AHR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.33-0.58), neurologic (AHR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.36-0.53), pulmonary (AHR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.52-0.78), and infectious (AHR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.36-0.54) diseases, in covariate-adjusted Cox models.