INCREASED INCIDENCE OF CATARACT EXTRACTIONS IN WOMEN ABOVE 70 YEARS OF AGE - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY

During 1987 and 1988 all patients undergoing a cataract extraction at the eye Clinic of Sahlgrenska University Hospital were registered to d etermine the yearly incidence of cataract extractions according to sex and age. We found that after the age of 70 years the incidence of cat aract extractions was higher for females than males. This difference w as most pronounced for operations of the first eye. In this case the r elative risk to undergo a cataract extraction for a woman compared to a man was 1.71 with 95% confidence interval 1.51-1.94, which showed a significantly increased risk. The preoperative VA of the best eye at t he time of the first operation did not differ significantly between ol der men and women, indicating that women had no tendency to come earli er to operation, Our results show that after the age of 70 years the o peration incidence of women is significantly higher than for men. This probably reflects a generally increased prevalence of various stages of cataract among females above 70 years in a Nordic population.