Cognitive Consequences of Cataract Surgery: A Cross-sectional Study

The age-related cataract is a leading cause of vision loss, and cataract surgery is the most common intraocular surgery. Patients with cataracts may develop mild cognitive impairment due to blurred vision and vision problems. In this regard, the improvement of vision after cataract surgery may affect their cognitive function.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 32 patients aged 40-60 years who were referred to the ophthalmology clinic of Farshchian Hospital in Hamadan with a diagnosis of bilateral cataracts within 2019-2020. Cognitive function was assessed in patients with Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE) test and clock-drawing test before and after ocular cataract surgery. Patient data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 16) using paired t-test at a 95% confidence level.

The mean age of patients was 53.91±4.51 years, and the majority of them (62.5%)were male. Before and after cataract surgery, the mean scores of the MMSE test were 25.09±3.25 and 26.19±2.69, and the mean scores of the clock-drawing test were reported as  3.34±1.49 and 3.72±1.32 (P=0.001). Based on the MMSE and clock-drawing test, 54.4% and 65.6% of patients, respectively, had improved cognitive function, as compared to before the surgery.

Cognitive function in patients with cataracts was significantly improved by cataract surgery.