title: The Pyhäjärvi Cataract Study II. Criteria for cataract surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is necessary to develop tools for patient selection to target cataract surgery to patients with the best expected outcomes. We used visual acuity, visual functioning 14 (VF-14) test, the 15-dimension health-related quality-of-life questionnaire (15D) and the New Zealand priority criteria to evaluate the criteria for cataract surgery in a post hoc setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-three consecutive patients living in a defined rural area in Finland had cataract surgery as a part of the Pyhäjärvi Cataract Study in 2003. Success of cataract surgery was defined as improvement of visual acuity by at least 2 lines and/or improvement of visual function measured by questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients with a visual acuity of 0.30 logMAR (0.5 Snellen decimal) or worse in the better eye and/or 0.52 logMAR (0.3 Snellen decimal) in the worse eye had successful surgery in 59-83% of cases depending on the definition of success. When subjective judgement was added, the success rates varied between 63% and 91%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Setting indication criteria, it seems sufficient to use two global questions in addition to visual acuity: one on the subjective view on disability, and one on a more neutral view on visual function, such as the 15D item on vision. The VF-14 did not perform any better than the single item counterparts.
authors.affiliation: Siinto, Sievi, Finland.
authors.forename: Jaana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuoppala
authors.forename: Aura
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Falck
authors.forename: Ilkka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Winblad
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tuulonen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002386:Cataract / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D018918:Phacoemulsification; D019591:Pseudophakia / Q000503:physiopathology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012424:Rural Population; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*