Casteldaccia eye study: prevalence of cataract in the adult and elderly population of a Mediterranean town

Abstract

Prevalence of cataract was studied in a population based survey performed in adults aged 40 years or more living in Casteldaccia, a small Sicilian town. Lens opacities of moderate or severe grade (type II or worse, according to the Lens Opacity Classification System II) were found at the following rates: nuclear opalescence in 18.5%, cortical cataract in 12.9%, posterior subcapsular cataract in 10.8%. All these types of cataract were much more frequent in the elderly population and were about 1.5 times more common in women than in men. Late cataract was found in about 1/3 of subjects aged 60 to 69 years, in 2/3 of subjects aged 70 or more, but rarely under 60 years of age. However, early cataract was rather common among younger subjects. Cataracts causing a reduction of visual acuity under 0.7 in the worst eye were found in 4%, 8.7% and 21.5% respectively in the three age groups ranging from 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and 60 to 69 years and in 54.4% of subjects 70 years old or over.

Prevalence and risk factors of diabetic retinopathy in adult and elderly subjects: The Casteldaccia Eye Study

“…The rather high participation rate and the absence of differences in prevalence of the main ocular diseases of a sample of non-responders in respect to the participants strengthen the reliability of the epidemiologic findings [9]. The diagnosis of diabetes was based on a questionnaire submitted to the subjects without measurements of blood glucose; thus, an underestimate of the prevalence of diabetes is possible.…”

“…Further details about the organization of the investigation, examination procedure, participation rate and treatment of non-responders are given elsewhere [9,27,28].…”

Revisión sistemática de estudios poblacionales de prevalencia de catarata

“…The lowest prevalence is that described in the Beaver Dam study (14), of 5%, corresponding to the Wisconsin criterion: any opacity and corrected VA of ≤ 0,7 in the best eye; this value increases to 14,2% when utilizing the same criterion but assessed on the worst eye. The Casteldaccia study (9,10), with VA and opacification, found a prevalence of 19,4% in a population over 40, while the North London Eye Study (12) found a prevalence of 30% utilizing the same criterion. However, these differences could be explained because this study comprised a population group over 65.…”

A case‐control study on risk factors for nuclear, cortical and posterior subcapsular cataract: The Casteldaccia Eye Study

“…We were able to examine 278, 298, 297 and 195 subjects in the four age groups, respectively. The overall rate of participation in the study was 67.3%, ranging from 50.8% to 84% depending on the groups (Giuffrè et al 1995).…”