demographic pattern of congenital cataract surgery at labbafinejad medical center

purpose: to determine the prevalence and to describe the demographic pattern of congenital cataract surgery performed at a referral hospital in iran during four consecutive years with respect to sex inequality in receiving eye care. methods: all children aged 15 years or less who had undergone congenital cataract surgery between 2006 and 2009 in labbafinejad medical center were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. data were retrieved from the electronic medical records of the hospital admission data bank (fox pr 6.2. clipper 5.2) using the icd-10 coding system. the prevalence of cataract surgery, age and sex proportion were the main outcome measures. results: overall, 314 eyes of 259 patients with congenital cataract including 142 eyes of 115 girls (45.2%) and 172 eyes of 144 boys (54.8%) were operated on during the study period; 55 (17.5%) of which had received cataract surgery in the second eye. mean age at the time of operation was 2.9±2.7 and 3.5±3.2 years in girls and boys, respectively (p= 0.62). the procedures were performed before the age of 1 and 5 years in 33.2% and 75% of the cases, respectively. the operation of the second eye was performed significantly later in girls as compared to the boys (4.2±3.3 vs. 2.6±1.7 years, respectively, p=0.012). conclusion: during the study period, the rate of operation for congenital/infantile cataract was higher in boys by about 10% as compared to girls. age at the time of operation for the second eye which comprised 17.5% of total surgeries was significantly different between two genders. overall, one third and two thirds of surgeries were performed under the age of 1 and 5 years, respectively.