Correlation between psychic and somatic symptoms and vision in aged patients before and after a cataract operation

The connection between psychic and somatic symptoms with vision was investigated by studying 100 cataract operation patients, aged 71 to 76 years, 25 of them being men and 75 women. The investigations were conducted one day before the operation and three months afterwards. The cataract operation restored sufficient acuity of vision for reading (minimum E-test value 0.40) to 79% of the old people. Psychic symptoms were tested with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Mini-Mult MMPI, and direct questions. Somatic symptoms were studied through questionnaires. Psychic symptoms showed a statistically significant correlation with vision before the cataract operation but not afterwards. Psychic symptoms increased with deterioration of the acuity of vision and diminished when the acuity of vision improved. Somatic symptoms did not show similar association with vision but the symptoms were significantly alleviated after the cataract operation. Restoration of vision through the cataract operation normalized the old people's psychic condition and reduced their somatic symptoms to correspond with their prior chronic diseases.