[Hospitalisations for cataract surgery in Puglia 2000-2002]

Cataracts are a common condition and represent a frequent cause of visual disability. Nevertheless, data regarding the incidence of cataracts and the progression of and loss of vision due to cataracts is scarce. In this study, hospital discharge abstract data was evaluated to estimate the frequency and type of hospitalisations for cataract surgery that occurred in the Puglia region in the years 2000-2002. The results of this study confirm that cataract surgery accounts for a relevant amount of regional healthcare system costs. In fact, every year, over 25,000 lens surgery procedures, most of which age-related, are performed in the Puglia region. Approximately 90% of such procedures involve cataract surgery; age-specific hospitalisation rates show very high rates in the > 50 year old population. Only 25% of total cataract extractions were performed as a day-surgery procedure and the mean length of hospital stay was found to be 2.5 days. This confirms that inappropriate hospitalisations, with respect to both type and duration, do occur. Cataract surgery is performed in over 30 hospitals in Puglia; the availability of health facilities in the region, therefore, seems to be satisfactory. In fact, on average, in the three-year period, only 7.5% of cases underwent the procedure outside the Puglia region.