Successful Cataract Surgery Leads to an Improvement in Depressive Symptomatology

Cataract is the most common reversible cause of blindness worldwide, and the associated vision impairment has been associated with an adverse impact on health-related quality of life and mental health in particular. However, findings from studies on the mental health improvement of patients after cataract surgery remain inconclusive. The objective of this study is to ascertain whether the outcome on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) following cataract surgery is associated with depressive symptomatology.

This is an observational prospective study of a cohort of 150 consecutive patients who underwent phacoemulsification surgery and who were evaluated for changes in depressive symptomatology with Beck's Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II).

The difference in BDI-II scores pre- and postoperatively correlated with the difference in BCVA pre- and postoperatively (p < 0.001). A paired-samples t test revealed a statistically significant difference in the preoperative and postoperative BDI-II scores (p < 0.001). A related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a statistically significant improvement of depression status among the patients (p = 0.004). A stepwise regression analysis concluded that the only statistically significant predictor in assessing the difference in total BDI-II score before and after the operation was the respective difference in visual acuity.

The success of phacoemulsification surgery for cataract as evaluated with the change in BCVA is related to the rate of improvement in depressive symptomatology.