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Evaluation of the impact of cataract surgery on cognitive function in very elderly patients: a prospective, observational study

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Abstract

Aim

To evaluate the impact of cataract surgery on cognitive function in very elderly patients (≥ 85 years).

Methods

A prospective, nonrandomized, comparative study of very elderly patients (≥ 85 years), and elderly patients (≥ 65 < 85 years) scheduled for first time cataract surgery. Cognitive function, quality of life (QoL), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), endothelial cell count (ECC), and central corneal thickness (CCT) were assessed at 90 days before surgery (T0), at surgery (T1), and at 30 (T2) and 90 days (T3) after surgery. Macular thickness (MT) was evaluated at T2. Six-item cognitive impairment test (6CIT) was used to evaluate cognitive function while the Catquest-9SF test was used to assess QoL. The confusion assessment method (CAM) was used to evaluate the presence of delirium episodes at within 48 h from T1.

Results

A total of 78 patients (very elderly n = 24, elderly n = 54) were enrolled; average age 80.3 ± 6.2 years old. Significant improvements for cognitive function, BCVA, QoL (p < 0.01) during the observational period were observed among the cohort. A greater improvement in cognitive function was observed in the very elderly patients between T1 and T2 (p = 0.02), while there was no difference in BCVA and QoL between the groups. There were no significant differences in ECC and CCT changes between the groups. No delirium episodes or significant macular abnormalities were registered.

Conclusions

Cataract surgery in very elderly patients seems to offer a greater improvement in cognitive function as compared to elderly patients, and it is associated with a significant improvement in QoL, without any incidence of postoperative delirium.

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Data availability

The dataset is available upon reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Johanna Chester for her critical revision of content and editorial assistance.

Funding

No financial support was received for this submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ophthalmology, University of Modena, Modena, Italy

    Tommaso Verdina, Fabio Stiro, Rodolfo Mastropasqua & Gian Maria Cavallini

  2. Ophthalmology Unit, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Francesco Bruni

  3. Faculty of Banking and Insurance, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giorgio Alfredo Spedicato

Authors
  1. Tommaso Verdina
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  2. Fabio Stiro
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  3. Francesco Bruni
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  4. Giorgio Alfredo Spedicato
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  5. Rodolfo Mastropasqua
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  6. Gian Maria Cavallini
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Contributions

TV, RM, and GMC contributed to the conception or design of work. FS and FB contributed to the data collection. GAS contributed to the data analysis and/or interpretation. All authors contributed to the drafting of the article and critical review of the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tommaso Verdina.

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None of the authors have conflict of interest with the submission.

Ethical approval

Clinical trial registration. Local approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee.

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All participants provided informed consent prior their participation.

Human and animal rights

The procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation.

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Verdina, T., Stiro, F., Bruni, F. et al. Evaluation of the impact of cataract surgery on cognitive function in very elderly patients: a prospective, observational study. Aging Clin Exp Res 34, 661–669 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-01962-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-01962-4

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