Cataract Surgery May Help Prevent Falls and Fractures

TOPLINE:

Cataract extraction with intraocular lens insertion (CEIOL) was associated with reduced odds of falls, fractures, and intracranial hemorrhage in adults aged 60 years or older.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX database to analyze electronic medical records from 64 US healthcare organizations to assess the role of CEIOL in mitigating age-related injuries in older adults.
• Patients with a diagnosis of cataracts were divided into two propensity score–matched cohorts of 420,907 individuals (mean age at index, 70.6 years) each. One cohort included patients who underwent extracapsular CEIOL within 10 years of diagnosis, whereas the other included those who did not undergo the procedure.
• Outcomes analyzed included falls, fractures — of the proximal humerus, distal radius, hip, and ankle — and subdural and epidural hemorrhage from day 1 to 10 years following eye surgery.

TAKEAWAY:

• Patients who underwent CEIOL had significantly lower odds of falls (odds ratio [OR], 0.83; P < .0001) than those who did not undergo the procedure.
• They also were less likely to experience breaks of the proximal humerus (OR, 0.95), distal radius (OR, 0.93), hip (OR, 0.93), and ankle (OR, 0.91; P < .05 for all) than those who did not undergo cataract surgery.
• The risk for intracranial hemorrhage, including subdural (OR, 0.89) and epidural (OR, 0.77; P < .01 for both) bleeds, also was lower for patients who underwent CEIOL than those who did not.

IN PRACTICE:

“The findings of this study indicate the previously described decreases in mortality following CEIOL may be attributable to reduced odds of falls and injuries known to increase mortality (eg, hip and nonhip fractures and intracranial hemorrhage), although causality cannot be determined due to the observational nature” of the research, the authors of the study wrote. 

“As the average age of the US population continues to increase, the implications of the present study findings may serve to provide clinical guidance to decrease morbidity and mortality” in older people.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Caitlin M. Hackl from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. It was published online on March 18, 2025, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

LIMITATIONS:

Databases that relied on administrative coding may lead to misclassification and residual confounding errors. Specific data regarding visual acuity were unavailable. The researchers could not determine whether the patients received unilateral or bilateral CEIOL owing to the limitations in the diagnostic codes.

DISCLOSURES:

No funding information was provided for this study. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.