Surgery that extends older women’s lives

OLDER women who have cataract surgery are 60 per cent less likely to suffer an early death, research reveals.

The 20-year-study found the operations significantly lowered the odds of dying from diseases including heart disease, cancer, and dementia – and also from accidents.

American scientists say the routine surgery enables patients to be more independent and active, which has a dramatic effect on their overall health. Their research looked at 74,000 women aged 65 or over who were all affected by cataracts between 1993 and 2015.

Just over half – 56 per cent – had operations to remove the cataracts and they tended to be wealthier patients with medical insurance.

The scientists from the University of Cali- fornia, Los Angeles, calculated that these patients were 60 per cent less likely to die of any cause during the time of the study.

When they looked at the data more closely, surgery was found to reduce the risk of deaths from cancer by 70 per cent and heart disease by 58 per cent.

It also reduced the odds of dying in an accident by 56 per cent and from an infection by 56 per cent.

The authors – whose study is published in the JAMA medical journal – said cataract surgery was known to reduce the risks of falls and fractures.

But they said it also improved ‘overall functioning’ – the ability of patients to go about their daily lives. This in turn improved their physical and mental health and enabled them to live longer, they speculated.

They said it was likely that the benefits of cataract surgery extended ‘beyond vision improvement’.