Co-morbidities among cataract surgery patients in a tertiary hospital of south India

Aim: To assess the frequency of systemic and ocular co-morbidities among the patients seeking cataract surgery in a tertiary hospital, Puducherry, south India. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross sectional study. All patients with senile cataract seeking cataract surgery in our hospital and research institute from July 2015 to June 2016 were included. Results: Out of 448 patient's case records reviewed, there were 218(48.66%) males and 230(51.34%) females. 147 (32.81%) patients had systemic co-morbidity and 66 (14.73%) had concurrent ocular disease. Among the systemic co-morbidities, commonest was diabetes mellitus in 61(13.62%), followed by hypertension in 42(9.38%) and renal disease in 16(3.57%) patients. Among the ocular co-morbidities age related macular degeneration was the commonest seen in 19 (4.24%) cases, followed by diabetic retinopathy in 15 (3.35%) patients. Conclusion: Systemic and ocular co-morbidities are prevalent among the cataract surgery seeking population, which needs to be identified by the ophthalmic surgeons and systemic illness needs to be adequately controlled before surgery while ocular problems need prompt intervention with a close follow-up for a better quality of life.