POST-OPERATIVE VISUAL PROGNOSIS IN SENILE CATARACT IN TOBACCO CONSUMERS: COMMUNITY BASED STUDY IN LUCKNOW, UTTAR PRADESH

Abstract

Tobacco use is a leading cause of chronic diseases in India. It kills almost 1.3 million people every year. The country is the second largest producer and consumer of cigarettes. The use of tobacco is very easy to start and is available at very low prices. One of the biggest threats to public health is tobacco use. It leads to the deaths of thousands of people and has a heavy social and economic cost. There are around 267 million tobacco users in India. The most common type of tobacco used by Indians is smokeless tobacco. Khaini, which is a tobacco mixture used by almost every ninth adult, is followed by bidi smoking and gutkha tobacco. According to the Global Adult tobacco Survey, around 11% of Indian adults smoke cigarettes. This is a community-based study involving 626 patients having Immature cataracts with H/O chronic tobacco use from rural population of central Uttar Pradesh in North India coming from low Socio-economic strata with no major Ocular pathology who underwent Cataract surgery (Manual Small incision cataract surgery/Phacoemulsification) with best input in form of surgical techniques & skills, equipment’s material used and uncomplicated surgeries. Serum Vitamin B6, Folic acid and B12 levels were checked to assess nutritional status of these patients. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) preoperatively as well as postoperatively was disproportionate to the grade of cataract and best surgical input. The visual outcome in these patients was not very good. BCVA (Best corrected visual acuity) is 70% poor and only 30% is good. There was color vision deficiency and Visual field defects in most of the patients.