Results of cataract surgery in a third-level teaching hospital. More than just a simple number

To analyse a series of cataract surgeries performed in a third-fourth level teaching hospital, providing complementary data to the number of surgeries that can be used as a further reference, and to compare them with those published by other Public Health Systems, mainly the British one.

Retrospective study of 1052 cataract procedures at the University Hospital of Valladolid from January 2016 to July 2016. Collected variables: age, gender, pre- and postsurgical visual acuity, degree of complexity of the cataract, duration of the surgery, and surgical complications.

The mean age of the patients was 74.1 ± 9.5 years, and 81.61% started from a VA <0.5. The duration of the surgery was collected only in 12% of the procedures. The complications rate was 1.8%, with one case of endophthalmitis. A final postoperative refraction was performed in only 44.7% of the cases. A total of 87.2% of the eyes achieved a VA ≥ 0.5 after surgery.

The results of the series show significant differences from those from the audit of the English National Healthcare System, with our patients being more complex and having less complications. There are missing-data in the collection of important variables such as post-surgical refraction or the duration of the surgery, which despite this, this work can be a good reference.