title: The cataract explosion: the changing pattern of diagnoses of patients attending an ophthalmic outpatient department.
abstract: An outpatient diagnostic index was used to analyse data relating to a sample of new patients attending the Southampton Eye Hospital in 1979 and 1986. Our main findings are an increased demand for cataract surgery by an increasingly aged population and a trend towards operating on cataracts at an earlier stage in their development. These and other results are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Southampton Eye Hospital.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batterbury
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Khaw
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hands
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Elkington
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000639:trends*; D006753:Hospital Records; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000639:trends; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology