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Review
. 2024 Apr 1;110(4):2300-2312.
doi: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000001105.

The association between cataract surgery and mental health in older adults: a review

Shan Wang  1 , Zijing Du  1 , Chunran Lai  1 , Ishith Seth  2 , Yaxin Wang  1 , Yu Huang  1   3 , Ying Fang  1 , Huiyi Liao  1 , Yijun Hu  1 , Honghua Yu  1   4 , Xiayin Zhang  1   3
Affiliations
Review

The association between cataract surgery and mental health in older adults: a review

Shan Wang et al. Int J Surg. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Although cataract surgery has been proposed as a potentially modifiable protective factor for enhancing emotional well-being in cataract patients, studies examining the relationship between anxiety or depression and cataract surgery have yielded inconsistent findings. This review summarizes existing evidence to establish whether cataract surgery is associated with depression and anxiety in older adults.

Methods: A literature search was conducted across PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and Embase databases. An initial screening by abstracts and titles was performed, followed by a review and assessment of the methodological quality of the relevant full papers, and final inclusion of 44 studies were deemed eligible for inclusion in this review.

Results: Among 44 included studies, 36 studies (81.8%) were observational studies concerning the association of cataract surgery or cataracts with anxiety or depression, four studies (9.1%) were interventional studies, and four studies (9.1%) were reviews. Cataract surgery notably enhances the mental health of individuals with impaired vision. However, the multifaceted nature of psychological well-being, influenced by various factors, suggests that cataract surgery may not address all aspects comprehensively. Additionally, preoperative anxiety and depression significantly impact cataract surgery outcomes.

Conclusion: Vision impairment in older adults is closely associated with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety. While surgical intervention for cataracts improves these symptoms, it might be less effective for mental disorders with multifactorial causes. Notably, anxiety or depression poses challenges to successful preoperative and intraoperative cataract surgeries.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of the mechanism of cataract surgery to improve anxiety or depression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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