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Nishad N, Hewage SA, Arulmoly K, et al. Barriers for Cataract Treatment among Elderly in Sri Lanka. Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res. 2019;2019:6262456doi: 10.1155/2019/6262456.
Nishad, N., Hewage, S. A., Arulmoly, K., Amaratunge, M. S., de Silva, J., Kasturiratne, K. T. A. A., Abeysundara, P. K., & Wickramasinghe, A. R. (2019). Barriers for Cataract Treatment among Elderly in Sri Lanka. Current gerontology and geriatrics research, 20196262456. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6262456
Nishad, Nilanga, et al. "Barriers for Cataract Treatment among Elderly in Sri Lanka." Current gerontology and geriatrics research vol. 2019 (2019): 6262456. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6262456
Nishad N, Hewage SA, Arulmoly K, Amaratunge MS, de Silva J, Kasturiratne KTAA, Abeysundara PK, Wickramasinghe AR. Barriers for Cataract Treatment among Elderly in Sri Lanka. Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res. 2019 Mar 03;2019:6262456. doi: 10.1155/2019/6262456. eCollection 2019. PMID: 30941168; PMCID: PMC6420963.
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Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res. 2019 Mar 03;2019:6262456. doi: 10.1155/2019/6262456. eCollection 2019.

Barriers for Cataract Treatment among Elderly in Sri Lanka.

Current gerontology and geriatrics research

Nilanga Nishad, S A Hewage, K Arulmoly, M S Amaratunge, J de Silva, K T A A Kasturiratne, P K Abeysundara, A R Wickramasinghe

Affiliations

  1. Teaching Hospital, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
  2. Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
  3. Radiant Eye Hospital, Ja-ela, Sri Lanka.
  4. Teaching Hospital, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
  5. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
  6. North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka.

PMID: 30941168 PMCID: PMC6420963 DOI: 10.1155/2019/6262456

Abstract

Cataract is still the leading cause of blindness. Many government institutes and voluntary organizations in Sri Lanka are providing free treatment services to patients with cataract. Still people are not patronizing the available free services; thus they have to live with impaired vision or blindness. This paper describes the barriers for cataract treatment among the population over 60 years of age. Out of 470 elders, 379 were found to have some kind of cataract. This study demonstrated lack of awareness and knowledge, socioeconomic factors, and misconceptions as the main barriers for cataract treatment which has led to a lower cataract surgery rate irrespective of the high cataract prevalence reported. Findings of this study highlight the importance of cataract as a common health problem in elderly and need for removal of the barriers for its treatment which should be given due prominence in the formulation of public health policy in Sri Lanka at the earliest.

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