Intermediate-term cataract surgery outcomes from rural provinces in Lao People's Democratic Republic

Published online: 28 Jul 2015PURPOSE: Limited data are available about cataract surgery outcomes from developing regions in South-East Asia, but are necessary to monitor the impact of ongoing program delivery as outlined in the World Health Organization Vision 2020 directives. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 488 eyes of 449 patients who had undergone cataract surgery in 2011 in Luang Prabang and Xayaboury provinces of northwestern Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The study included 400 eyes of 361 subjects (80.4% of the target population). The main outcomes were presenting and pinhole visual acuity (VA). RESULTS: Subjects' mean age was 68 years (standard deviation 12.1 years); 52.6% were women. Preoperative presenting VA in the operated eye was 6/18 in 185/400 eyes (46.3%, 95% confidence interval, CI, 41.4-51.2%), <6/18-6/60 in 177/400 (44.3%, 95% CI 39.4-49.2%) and