Ethnicity Is An Isolated Risk Factor Of Posterior Capsule Rupture In Phacoemulsification Surgery

The aim of this study is to determine if there is a difference in the rate of posterior capsule rupture (PCR) during phacoemulsification surgery according to patients’ ethnicity in a large tertiary centre in the UK.

Large tertiary hospital in the UK, Birmingham and Midland eye centre and Sandwell General Hospital

A retrospective review and analysis of all phacoemulsification surgeries performed on adults between January 2012 and January 2021.

Of 30266 eyes included, the ethnicity of the patients was (British/Irish/white) in 55.6%, (Bangladeshi/Indian/Pakistani) in 22.4%, (African/Caribbean/black) in 8.4%, (Chinese/other Asian) in 2.1%, (mixed) in 1.7% and (other/unknown/non specified) in 9.8%. The association between different risk factors and the occurrence of PC rupture was studied using multiple logistic regression to control for other variables. (African/Caribbean/black) Ethnicity is associated with a higher probability of occurrence of PC rupture as compared to the white Ethnicity (OR=1.41, 95%CI: 1.08, 1.83). The odds of occurrence of PC rupture in (African/Caribbean/black) patients is 1.41 times the odds of occurrence of PC rupture in white patients, p-value =0.01

In parallel with other research studies that highlights the disparities in health care access and intervention outcomes noted in ethnic minorities, our research discovers a correlation between ethnicity and the occurrence of a specific complication in one of the most commonly performed surgeries in the world; cataract. To the authors’ knowledge , our study is the first in Europe to conclude that  African/Afro-Caribbean ethnicity carries a statistically significant higher risk of PCR in phacoemulsification surgery.