Patient age at first cataract surgery and the age-standardized surgery rate vary significantly among U.S. communities, according to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
Here are five insights:
1. Researchers conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of 1.05 million beneficiaries older than 40 years of age with cataracts who were enrolled in a nationwide managed-care network.
2. Communities with the youngest and oldest patients at initial surgery differed in age by nearly 20 years — around 59 to 60 years in Lansing, Mich., and Aurora, Ill., versus around 77 to 79 years in Marquette, Mich.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Binghamton, N.Y.
3. The highest age-standardized cataract surgery rate was 37.3 percent in Lake Charles, La., and the lowest was 7.5 percent in Honolulu, Hawaii.
4. The median time from initial cataract diagnosis to date of first surgery ranged from 17 days in Victoria, Texas, to 367 days in Yakima, Wash.
5. Compared with white patients, black patients had a 15 percent decreased hazard of surgery, while Latino patients and Asian patients had an increased hazard.