Gender and referral to cataract surgery in Sweden

Purpose: To investigate how cataract surgery was initiated and analyse poss ible gender difference in referral to surgery. Methods: Consecutive patients scheduled for first eye cataract surgery at t hree Swedish community-run eye departments were interviewed concerning how surgery was initiated. Results: 649 patients were interviewed and 63.2% were female. The number of patients referred to surgery by an earlier contact with a health care prov ider was 271 (41.8%) and the remaining 378 (58.2%) patients had actively re quested advice or help because of visual problems caused by cataract and wi thout a prior regular contact. 44.7% of female patients were referred throu gh a health care provider they visited for reasons other than cataract and the corresponding number for male patients was 36.8%. This gender differenc e is statistically significant at the 5% level. Conclusion: A health care provider that patients visited for other problems than cataract referred female patients to cataract surgery to a significan tly higher degree than male patients.