Cataract in older women exposed to hormone replacement

Abstract

In 2003–2004 there were 6 712 407 surgical procedures performed on the NHS in England, of which 457 382 (6.8%) were ophthalmological and 298 404 (4.4%) were cataract operations. The mean age of cataract surgery patients was 75 years and 62% were female, indicating that around 185 000 cataract operations were performed in older women during the year.1 The prevalence of current Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) use among women in England aged 45–64 years in 1992 was 15%, with the prevalence of long-term use being 10%.2 Women who were using HRT just over a decade ago will now have reached an age where many can be expected to be requiring cataract surgery. A full understanding of both the health benefits and risks of HRT use requires a knowledge of short- and long-term desired and unwanted effects. Age-related cataract mostly develops over a period of years with multifactorial personal, socioeconomic, dietary, lifestyle, environmental, health, and genetic risk factors having been implicated for nuclear, cortical, and posterior subcapsular cataract.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10