Cataract and Barriers to Cataract Surgery in a U.S. Hispanic Population
Hispanic individuals of Mexican descent, 40 years of age and older and living in southern Arizona, have higher prevalence rates of visually significant cataract and cataract surgery than those in white and African American populations. In addition, language and financial barriers in this Hispanic population impede access to surgery. These are the major conclusions of Proyecto VER, a population-based eye and vision research study appearing in the September 2005 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
Overall, 2.8 percent of study participants had visually significant cataract and 5.1 percent had undergone cataract surgery in both eyes. Among those 65 to 84 years of age, 7.18 percent had significant cataract, in contrast to 2.5 percent for white Americans and 2.3 percent for African Americans. Of these, 15 percent had had cataract surgery, in contrast to 12 percent for white Americans and 5 percent for African Americans. Although rates of cataract surgery for Hispanics are higher than for white Americans or African Americans, the rate of significant cataract is also higher.
Among those who needed surgery, 30 percent had no medical insurance, and 86 percent had an average family income of less than $20,000. Those who had received cataract surgery had higher education, medical insurance, a regular medical care facility, visited a medical doctor or health care professional recently, and spoke more English.
Citation:
Broman AT, Gulnar Hafiz G, Muñoz B, Rodriguez J, Snyder R; Klein R,West SK: Cataract and Barriers to Cataract Surgery in a US Hispanic Population-Proyecto VER. Arch Ophthalmol 123:1231-1236, 2005.
