A study of the correlation between patient-reported outcomes and clinical outcomes after cataract surgery in ophthalmic clinics

Abstract

Purpose To analyse the relationship between patient-reported outcome measures and clinical outcome measures in 42 individual Swedish cataract surgery settings. Methods The study material consisted of follow-up data on cataract extractions collected by the Swedish National Cataract Register in 2008-2011. Patient-reported outcome was measured using the Catquest-9SF questionnaire. A total of 9707 pairs of questionnaires completed before and after a cataract extraction were analysed together with clinical data. The analyses were performed for each clinic. Results For almost all clinics, a factor related to a poor patient-reported outcome after surgery was a good preoperative self-assessed visual function. For some clinics, up to 50% of the patients stated that they were very satisfied with their vision before surgery. For single clinics, different factors such as large anisometropia (≥3D), capsule complications, biometry prediction error (≥3D) and ocular comorbidity were related to a poor patient-reported outcome. In situations where the clinical outcome was good and the patient-reported outcome was poor, problems with near-vision activities after surgery was the main factor noted. Conclusions Analysing factors related to a poor patient-reported outcome for each clinic showed large variation. Weak indication for surgery, refractive problems after surgery, surgical complications and a poor chance of visual recovery due to ocular comorbidity were among the reasons for a poor patient-reported outcome. Post-operative care in terms of establishing a good near vision seemed to be another problem for some clinics.