Assessment of color vision in elderly patients: Pre- and post-cataract surgery

Abstract

Aim: The aim is to assess color vision in Sudanese elderly patients' pre- and post-cataract surgery. Materials and Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted in in Makkah Eye Complex (a voluntary organization; a Tertiary Eye Care Center) in Khartoum Alryad. Elderly patients (200); their age varies from 60 to 95 (mean 67.91 and standard deviation ± 6.779) years with senile cataract were asked to participate in the study. Participation was entirely voluntary. Information was collected by means of interviews, questionnaire, and clinical examination. The data were analyzed using Predictive Analytic Software Statistics Version 18 (2010), a modified version of IBM SPSS Inc. PASW Statistics for Windows, Version 18.0; 2009. Chicago: SPSS Inc. All tests are of two sides (confidence interval of 99% level). Therefore, a P≤ 0.05 was taken to indicate the statistical significance for all analysis and spearman correlation (r) was used to identify association between variables. Results: In the presence of cataract, the results showed significant declines in visual acuity (>85% visually impaired). Failure to discriminate colors were recorded in right eye (RE) (56%) and left eye (LE) (60%). Improved visual functions as a result of cataract surgery included the following: Better optically corrected vision (71%) achieved satisfactory visual outcomes (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution [LogMAR] >0.48) with average distance visual acuity (VA) of (0.36–0.46 Log MAR) and in increased ability to discriminate colors (90%) and 89% for RE and LE, respectively. Both pre- and post-operative results showed positive correlation for RE and LE and (P Conclusions: VA and other retinal functions like color vision are restored by cataract extraction.