Two point four million cataract surgeries: 30 years with the Swedish National Cataract Register, 1992-2021

Abstract

The present review summarizes data collected by the Swedish National Cataract Register (NCR), which by the end of 2021 contained data for more than 2.4 million cataract surgeries between 1992 and 2021. During these 30 years, the cataract surgery rate rose from 3700 to 12 800. The coverage of NCR is very high including 93% of all cataract procedures in Sweden between 2010 and 2021. Independently of demographic changes, the proportion of operations of patients age 60 to 79 has increased while the proportion of 80 to 90+ has decreased. The median visual acuity of the first eye planned for surgery was 0.1 decimal in 1992 and has increased to 0.5 decimal in 2021. Patient-reported outcome measures have been registered with the Catquest-9SF questionnaire since 2008, demonstrating intervention at an earlier stage, but consistently favorable outcomes. Surgical complications have decreased; endophthalmitis has decreased from 0.10% to below 0.02%, and posterior capsule rupture from 2.8% to 0.6%.