Long-time visual functional results of cataract surgery on low vision patients

Figures & data

Table 1 Mean age, age-range, percentage of males, percentage of first eye surgery, VA-distribution, and subjective visual function (VF-14 total score), before surgery, postoperatively and 5 years after surgery

	Diagnosis
	All patients	M-patients	G-patients	RP-patients	p-value*
No of patients	81	55	23	3
Mean age at surgery (years)	80.1	81.5	81.0	47.3	0.8
Range (years)	30–96	62–96	43–93	30–74
Males (%)	31	31	35	0	0.94
Surgery on first eye (%)	72	69	77	67	0.59
VA operated eye before surgery
20/90 or better	3	0	2	1	0.42
20/200–20/100	10	8	2	0
CF-20/250	54	41	11	2
P – HM	14	6	8	0
VA better eye before surgery
20/90 or better	12	7	4	1	0.6
20/200–20/100	36	26	10	0
CF-20/250	31	20	9	2
P – HM	2	2	0	0
VA operated eye postoperative
20/90 or better	23	14	8	1	0.086
20/200–20/100	36	30	5	1
CF-20/250	15	10	5	1
P – HM	6	1	5	0
VA better eye postoperatively
20/90 or better	30	19	10	1	0.67
20/200–20/100	37	28	7	2
CF-20/250	14	8	6	0
P – HM	0	0	0	0
Mean improvement VA operated eye, logMAR units	0.62 (0.71)	0.71 (0.67)	0.49 (0.82)	0.03 (0.35)	0.28
(SD), p-value†	<0.000	<0.000	0.0093
Mean improvement VA better eye,	0.35 (0.60)	0.38 (0.62)	0.28 (0.58)	0.05 (0.09)	0.47
logMAR units (SD), p-value†	<0.000	<0.000	0.047
VF-14 before surgery (n = 81) mean(SD)	40.0 (26.7)	30.3 (25.7)	35.0 (27.5)	66.9 (17.8)	0.47
VF-14 postoperatively (n = 81)	48.8 (30.2)	47.4 (28.6)	49.2 (34.9)	70.4 (16.7)	0.81
mean (SD), p-value†	<0.000	<0.000	0.024
Five-year data
No of patients with 5-year VF-14 data	35	22	11	2
No with 5-year VA & VF-14 data	30	19	10	1
Mean age 5 years after surgery, years (SD)	81.1 (13.5)	84.4 (6.1)	82.3 (12.5)	39 (5,7)	0.61
Operated on both eyes after 5 years, %.	78	77	88#	50	0.64
VA operated eye before surgery (n = 30)
20/90 or better	1	0	1	0	0.76
20/200–20/100	7	5	2	0
CF-20/250	17	12	4	1
P – HM	5	2	3	0
VA operated eye postop (n = 30)
20/90 or better	8	3	5	0	0.39
20/200–20/100	16	12	3	1
CF-20/250	5	4	1	0
P – HM	1	0	1	0
VA operated eye 5 years after surgery (n = 30)
20/90 or better	2	0	1	1	0.51
20/200–20/100	11	8	3	0
CF-20/250	18	11	2	0
P – HM	4	0	4	0
p-value§	<0.000	0.026	0.003
VA better eye bef surg (n = 30)
20/90 or better	3	2	1	0	0.32
20/200–20/100	17	11	5	1
CF-20/250	9	5	4	0
P – HM	1	1	0	0
VA better eye postop (n = 30)
20/90 or better	10	5	5	0	0.92
20/200–20/100	16	12	3	1
CF-20/250	4	2	2	0
P – HM	0	0	0	0
VA better eye 5 years after surg (n = 30)
20/90 or better	10	5	5	0	0.21
20/200–20/100	7	5	2	0
CF-20/250	12	9	2	1
P – HM	1	0	1	0
p-value§	0.23	0.18	0.8
Mean VF-14 before surg (n = 35)	37.4 (27.3)	35.4 (28.6)	34.2 (21.9)	76.7 (8.3)	0.99
Mean VF-14 postoperat (n = 35)	53.7 (26.2)	51.7 (24.9)	53.1 (29.8)	79.1 (10.3)	0.86
Mean VF-14 5 years after surg (n = 35)	46.6 (31.7)	40.2 (27.7)	52.6 (37.6)	83.0 (8.0)	0.34
p-value§	0.026	0.004	0.93

* Notes: p-values refer to M-patients versus G-patients (t- tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests)

† p-values refer to change postoperatively versus before surgery, (t- tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests)

§ p-values refer to change 5-years after surgery versus postoperatively. (t- tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests)

# Two patients with no light perception on their fellow eyes were excluded; Values in boldface are statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Abbreviations: M-patients, maculopathy patients; G-patients, glaucoma patients; RP-patients, retinitis pigmentosa patients; LogMAR, logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution; VA, visual acuity; VF-14, visual function questionnaire; CF, counting fingers; HM, hand movements; P, light perception.

Table 2 Distribution of change in VA for the operated eye and the better-seeing eye 5 years after surgery versus postoperatively, for the Maculopathy patients (M-patients), Glaucoma patients (G-patients), and the retinitis pigmentosa patients (RP-patients)

Change in VA operated eye 5 years after surgery, no (%)	All patients (n = 30)	M-patients (n = 19)	G-patients (n = 10)	RP-patients (n = 1)	p-value
Unchanged or better, no (%)	7 (23)	7 (37)	0	0
0.01–0,3 decline logMAR units	3 (10)	1 (5)	2 (20)	0
0.31–0.5 decline logMAR units	9 (30)	4 (21)	5 (50)	0
0.51–0.7 decline logMAR units	7 (23)	6 (32)	0	1
>0.7 decline logMAR units	4 (14)	1 (5)	3 (30)	0	p = 0.33*
Change in VA better seeing eye 5 years after surg, no (%)
Unchanged or better, no (%)	12 (40)	8 (42)	4 (40)	0
0.01–0,3 decline logMAR units	9 (30)	4 (21)	5 (50)	0
0.31–0.5 decline logMAR units	5 (17)	4 (21)	0	1
0.51–0.7 decline logMAR units	3 (10)	3 (16)	0	0
>0.7 decline logMAR units	1 (3)	0	1 (10)	0	p = 0.40*

* Notes: The p-value refers to the difference between M- and G-group (Mann-Whitney U-test).

Abbreviations: VA, best corrected visual acuity; logMAR, logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution.

Table 3 Distribution of change in VF-14, 5 years after surgery versus before surgery and postoperatively, respectively

Change in VF-14 score 5 years after surgery versus before surgery, no (%)	All patients (n = 35)	M-patients (n = 22)	G-patients (n = 11)	RP-patients (n = 2)	p-value
Unchanged or better; no (%)	20 (57)	11 (50)	8 (73)	1 (50)
Worsening of VF-14 score <10	8 (23)	6 (27)	1 (9)	1 (50)
Worsening of VF-14 score 10–20	5 (14)	3 (14)	2 (18)	0
Worsening of VF-14 score >20	2 (6)	2 (9)	0	0	0.30*
Change in VF-14 score 5 years after surgery versus postoperatively, no (%)
VF-14 unchanged or better	13 (37)	5 (23)	6 (55)	2 (100)
Worsening of VF-14 score <10	7 (20)	6 (27)	1 (9)
Worsening of VF-14 score 10–20	7 (20)	6 (27)	1 (9)
Worsening of VF-14 score >20	8 (23)	5 (23)	3 (27)		0.36*

* Notes: The p-values refer to the difference between M- and G-group (Mann-Whitney U-test).

Abbreviations: M-patients, maculopathy patients; G-patients, glaucoma patients; RP-patients, retinitis pigmentosa patients; VF-14, visual function questionnaire total score.

Table 4 The median subjective reading ability score before surgery, postoperatively, and 5 years after surgery for the patient-groups

Median score (interquartile range)	All patients (n = 35)	M-group (n = 22)	G-group (n = 11)	RP-group (n = 2)
Before surgery	2 (6)	2 (5.4)	2 (6)	11 (2)
Postoperatively	5 (7)	5 (6.4)	7 (7)	9.5 (1)
5 years after surgery	3 (7)	1 (5.5)	6 (9)	10 (0)
p-value*	0.14	0.045	0.83

* Notes: refers to change in reading score 5 years after surgery versus postoperatively (paired Wilcoxon signed rank test).

Abbreviations: M-patients, maculopathy patients, G-patients; glaucoma patients; RP-patients, retinitis pigmentosa patients.