Pediatric cataract in a developing country: retrospective review of 328 cases

Martin A. Zimmermann-Paiz¹; Carlos R. Quiroga-Reyes¹

DOI: 10.1590/S0004-27492011000300003

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Pediatric cataracts constitute an important cause of low visual acuity. PURPOSE: The objective of the present work is to know the characteristics of this pathology in an ophthalmic attention unit of a developing country. METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive, transversal study was carried out in 328 cases of pediatric cataracts (children between 0 and 14 years). RESULTS: 190 (57.9%) patients were male and 138 (42.1%) female, 145 (44.2%) cases were congenital cataracts and 183 (55.8%) acquired cataracts; 160 (48.8%) presented unilateral affection and 168 (51.2%) bilateral. The treatment was surgical in 98.2% of the cases. The mean age at diagnosis of congenital cataract was 34.9 months. The mean age of presentation of the acquired ones was 76.6 months. The treatment was abandoned in 70.58% cases of congenital cataracts and 64.10% of acquired cataracts. In the congenital ones, 44% presented visual acuity in the range of 20/200 and 20/70 and in the acquired ones, 32.5% were better than 20/30. CONCLUSIONS: The data found was not encouraging due to the late detection and the abandon of the treatment, which are bad prognosis factors.

Keywords: Eye diseases; Cataracts; Child; Developing countries

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