Mortality after endophthalmitis following contemporary phacoemulsification cataract surgery

To determine if endophthalmitis following cataract surgery is linked to increased mortality.

Increased mortality has been linked to patients with cataract and cataract surgery. We tested the hypothesis that post-cataract endophthalmitis has a greater risk of death than pseudophakes who do not develop this complication.

Case-control study conducted in a tertiary public hospital.

The study group comprised 50 consecutive patients with post-cataract endophthalmitis, and these were matched with selected controls.

Patients with endophthalmitis following cataract surgery were identified from a prospective electronic surgical database. Subsequently, it was determined if the patient was deceased at the time of sequestration (September 2015), and the date of death was recorded. A previously described population who had undergone cataract surgery in the same facility was selected as a control group, and the population was case-matched in terms age, gender, presence or absence of diabetes and/or hypertension.

The median survival rates were determined for the control group and the patients with post-cataract endophthalmitis.

Fifty patients were identified as undergoing endophthalmitis post-cataract surgery, and 48 (n = 48) met inclusion criteria (mean age 72 years ±12 SD with 30:18 F:M); 17% were diabetic, and 50% had systemic hypertension. No statistically significant difference in median survival between the study and control cases was identified (100 months (95% confidence interval 86-114) vs. 106 months (95% confidence interval 66-146), respectively, P = 0.756).

Post-cataract endophthalmitis was not associated with an increased rate of mortality in this study.