Outcomes following cataract surgery in patients with age‐related macular degeneration

Abstract

AbstractPurposeCataract and age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) can occur concomitantly in the elderly population. AMD is often considered a poor prognostic factor for visual outcomes after cataract surgery. We wanted to investigate the outcomes of cataract surgery in patients with AMD.MethodsWe retrospectively analysed pre‐ and post‐operative visual acuity and refraction results for all adult patients who underwent phacoemulsification cataract surgery between February 2009 to May 2021 at a local hospital trust in the National Health Service (NHS), UK. Data collection was done through the Medisoft electronic medical record (Heidelberg Engineering, Leeds, UK). Statistical tests were conducted using paired and unpaired Student t‐tests, and p < 0.05 was considered significant.ResultsIn total, we included 27 357 eyes undergoing cataract surgery in our analysis, of which 1653 had AMD. Patients with AMD underwent cataract surgery at an older age compared to those without AMD (82.2 years vs 74.6 years, p < 0.0001). Pre‐operatively, eyes with AMD tended to be more hypermetropic than healthy eyes and underwent a more substantial change in refractive power following surgery (p < 0.0001). Overall, visual acuity improved for patients post‐operatively, but patients with AMD had poorer improvement in visual acuity than patients with no ocular co‐pathology (LogMAR −0.17 versus −0.29, p < 0.0001). Notably, 23% of patients with AMD had poorer visual acuity post‐operatively, compared to only 10% in patients without any pathology (p < 0.0001).ConclusionsPatients with AMD undergoing cataract surgery showed an improvement in visual acuity, although this improvement is less than in eyes with no co‐pathology. This data will help counsel AMD patients considering cataract surgery.