Idu, F. K. and Ajayi, O. B.
Abstract
In order to determine the prognosis of senile cataract extraction with increasing age, a case series of 240 patients without ocular or systemic comorbidity aged 51 to 80 years who underwent intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE), and extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE), between January 1991 and Decembers 2000 were studied. The results revealed a significant difference in the visual acuity outcome between the different age groups (P<0.05). There was a strong negative correlation between age and the final visual acuity after cataract extraction r =-0.91 (P<0.012) showing a decrease in visual acuity with increasing age. The age range of 61-65 had the best visual acuity outcome (6/9) after ICCE, while age range 51-55 had the best visual acuity outcome (6/7.5) after ECCE. In both ICCE and ECCE, age range 76-80 had the worst final visual acuity outcome 6/24 and 6/18 respectively. From this study, it is concluded that there is the poor prognosis of senile cataract extraction with increasing age.
Keywords: Comobidity, Intracapsular, Extracapsular, Cataract, Visual Acuity.