Psychosocioeconomic Determinants of Complicated and Uncomplicated Mature Cataracts in Hong Kong

Objective: Blindness caused by mature cataract is reversible with timely cataract extraction surgery, however neglecting it could complicate with phacomorphic glaucoma. This study aims to investigate the psych socioeconomic determinants of phacomorphic glaucoma complicated and uncomplicated mature cataracts in Hong Kong. Participants and Methods: Retrospective review of cataract surgery records from 2013 - 2018 in a tertiary public emergency hospital’s ophthalmology unit in Hong Kong was done to identify phacomorphic glaucoma and uncomplicated mature cataract patients as case and control respectively. Data on demographics, psychiatric diseases, social and economic factors were extracted and analyzed. Results: 36 cases and 39 controls were included, with similar age (p = 0.73) and sex (p = 0.99). Presence of psychiatric diseases (p = 0.02) and absence of spouse (p = 0.008) were associated with phacomorphic glaucoma in univariate logistic regression analysis. Intention to private healthcare service usage (p = 0.002, p = 0.006) and living out of public rental housing (p = 0.002, p = 0.004) were associated with phacomorphic glaucoma in both the univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Attention to screening of mature cataract before complication of phacomorphic glaucoma occurs should target the single elderly households, psychiatric patients, and the non-public housing population