OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of senile cataracts and its detection rate among the population at the age of 40 and older with diseases of the cardiovascular system.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This observational cross-sectional study was based on the information extracted from electronic health records (EHR) of patients aged 40-99 years assigned for medical services to a city polyclinic.

RESULTS

Among the population with essential hypertension (EH) senile cataract occurs with the frequency of 10.4±0.3% (95% CI 9.8-10.9%) of cases, in patients with cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) — 17.1±0.2% (95% CI 16.6-17.5%) of cases, with varicose veins of the lower extremities — 19.9±0.2% (95% CI 19.4-20.3%) of cases, with ischemic heart disease (IHD) — 15.8±0.2% (95% CI 15.4-16.2%) of cases. At the same time, senile cataract is associated with an increase in the likelihood of its detection in patients with hypertension by 6.8 times (OR 6.57; 95% CI 5.89-7.74), with CVD by 5 times (OR 5.02; 95% CI 4.64-5.44), with varicose veins by 3.7 times (OR 3.70; 95% CI 3.34-4.10), with IHD by 3.5 times (OR 3.53; 95% CI 3.20-3.90). Female gender is associated with an increased likelihood of developing senile cataracts in the presence of EH by 1.4 times (OR 1.420; 95% CI 1.299-1.553), in the presence of CVD by 1.2 times (OR 1.199; 95% CI 1.066-1.348), in the presence of varicose veins by 1.4 times (OR 1.355; 95% CI 1.064-1.725), in the presence of IHD by 1.5 times (OR 1.476; 95% CI 1.298-1.679). The detection rate of senile cataract is highest at the ages of 70-79 years, amounting to 18.1% of cases with hypertension, 24.0% of cases with CVD, 29.2% of cases with varicose veins, and 33.7% of cases with ischemic heart disease.

CONCLUSION

Target population groups have been identified for more effective screening studies in order to detect senile cataracts among them.