Indications for cataract surgery in a Danish county 1980 and 1990

Age-related utilisation of cataract surgery in Sweden during 1992-1999. A retrospective study of cataract surgery rate in one-year age groups based on the Swedish National Cataract Register

PURPOSE

To study the utilisation and increase of first eye cataract surgery in one-year age groups between 60 and 90 years of age during 1992-1999.

METHODS

Data was extracted from the National Swedish Cataract Register (NCR) that covers about 93.2% of all cataract extractions performed in Sweden during 1992-1999. The total number of living persons in each one-year age group was collected from the Year Book of Statistics in Sweden (1993-2000).

RESULTS

The number of cataract extractions in Sweden increased by 54.8% from 1992 to 1999. The rates of first eye cataract surgery in one-year age groups between 60 and 90 years of age were different for females and males and this difference did not change during a 37% increase of the surgery volume from 1992 to 1999. The rate of first eye cataract surgery increased significantly both for females (+29.4%) and males (+27.2%) during 1992 to 1999 in Sweden.

CONCLUSION

The rate of first eye cataract surgery increased significantly from 1992 to 1999 but the gender difference in age-related utilisation of surgery remained unchanged. The increase in rate was about the same in all age groups.

Health, medicine, and ophthalmology: facing the facts and paying the piper LVI Edward Jackson Memorial Lecture

PURPOSE

To describe the sources of tension within the health care system and methods for pursuing their solution.

METHODS

Presentation of observations pertinent to patient, provider, and payer perspectives relevant to the cost, delivery, and quality of care and their impact on health.

RESULTS

Societal forces, not just wealth, are major determinants of both health and the costs of health care.

CONCLUSIONS

Tensions created by rising health care costs in the face of finite societal resources will increase in the years ahead. These can be resolved only by realizing new efficiencies in care, and prioritizing, through an explicit process, the care that is to be provided.