Demographic Pattern of Congenital Cataract Surgery at Labbafinejad Medical Center

To determine the prevalence and to describe the demographic pattern of congenital cataract surgery performed at a referral hospital in Iran during four consecutive years with respect to sex inequality in receiving eye care. All children aged 15 years or less who had undergone congenital cataract surgery between 2006 and 2009 in Labbafinejad Medical Center were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Data were retrieved from the electronic medical records of the hospital admission data bank (Fox PR 6.2. Clipper 5.2) using the ICD-10 coding system. The prevalence of cataract surgery, age and sex proportion were the main outcome measures. Overall, 314 eyes of 259 patients with congenital cataract including 14 eyes of 115 girls (45.2%) and 172 eyes of 144 boys (54.8%) were operated on during the study period; 55 (17.5%) of which had received cataract surgery in the second eye. Mean age at the time of operation was 2.9±2.7 and 3.5±3.2 years in girls and boys, respectively (P= 0.62). The procedures were performed before the age of 1 and 5 years in 33.2% and 75% of the cases, respectively. The operation of the second eye was performed significantly later in girls as compared to the boys (4.2±3.3 vs. 2.6±1.7 years, respectively, P=0.012). During the study period, the rate of operation for congenital/infantile cataract was higher in boys by about 10% as compared to girls. Age at the time of operation for the second eye which comprised 17.5% of total surgeries was significantly different between two genders. Overall, one third and two thirds of surgeries were performed under the age of 1 and 5 years, respectively.