Complexities and challenges of surgical data collection from cataract patients: comparison of cataract surgery rates between 2001 and 2008 in all provinces of Argentina

Purpose: To compare the cataract surgical rate (CSR) in 2001 with that in 2008 in all Argentinean provinces using current reporting methods and verify the accuracy of CSRs by crosschecking these methods with the number of sold intraocular lenses (IOLs) within the country. Methods: A longitudinal study including public and private setups was conducted, and it included 40 ophthalmologists from 22 provinces who provided cataract surgery data for 2001 and 2008. Other data were obtained from the Ministry of Health. Estimates were crosschecked against the market data for sold intraocular lens (IOLs) in 2008 and 2010. Results: The number of cataract surgeries increased 2.7-fold, from 62,739 in 2001 to 169,762 in 2008, with increases in every province except Mendoza. Although the population also increased by 9.4% during the same time period, the apparent CSR jumped from 1,744 to 4,313 per million population. The number of IOLs sold in Argentina in 2008 was 186,652, suggesting that the number of cataract surgeries performed was slightly greater than anticipated. Crosschecks with other countries using IOL sales data did not show discrepancies when compared with previously reported CSRs. Conclusions: Although the CSR in Argentina increased considerably from 2001 to 2008 for several reasons, the main reason was that thorough crosschecking between the number of surgeries reported and the number of IOLs sold revealed that the number of surgeries performed annually were being underestimated as a result of incomplete reporting by private practitioners. Furthermore, the presence of multiple societies of ophthalmology in the country complicated the process of obtaining accurate data