Women who have cataract surgery live longer.

So says a new study published in JAMA Ophthalmology. Data was collected for over 70,000 patients between the years of 1992-2015.

What did the study ask?
Is there an association between women who have cataract surgery and their mortality?

So, is there?
Yes. They found that women who had cataract surgery had “lower risks for dying due to vascular, cancer, accidental, neurologic, pulmonary, and infectious conditions” compared with participants who didn’t have cataract surgery.

Why is that?
They’ve got a few theories.

1. Participants who underwent cataract surgery were of higher socioeconomic status and were thus able to receive better overall systemic health care in addition to cataract surgery.
2. The possibility of a healthier lifestyle in participants who underwent cataract surgery.
3. There is an improvement in health status and functional independence after cataract surgery.

This study agrees with another similar study comparing cataract surgery and mortality.

The take home:
When the authors compared the results from both of these studies, they found a strong association between cataract surgery and a lower risk for mortality due to any cause.