ABOUT THE NCR

Background and Purpose
The national cataract register was originally established (1992) to monitor the effects of introducing a maximum waiting time guarantee in Sweden for patients awaiting cataract surgery. The core register focuses on demography, waiting time for surgery, and visual function at the time of surgery. The register has been extended to cover outcome data and benefits experienced from the procedure. An important purpose is to document differences in accessibility and outcome throughout Sweden.
The long-term goals of the register are:		  
 

to continuously monitor the availability of cataract surgery

 

to form a national base for quality assurance of cataract surgery at individual departments

 

to reflect the outcomes of routine medical care as characterized in the total register

 

to promote quality improvement and form a basis for comparing and demonstrating good examples

 

to enable analysis of rare outcomes, due to the size of the database

 

to improve knowledge concerning the appropriate indications and optimal time for surgery by evaluating benefits that patients experience from surgery.



Criteria for Inclusion
All patients undergoing cataract surgery participate. The operation must be completed before the case is registered. The objective of the register is for all departments in Sweden (public and private) to report their cataract operations. The register includes elective and emergency procedures. The register does not include secondary lens implants after previous cataract operation without an intra-ocular lens. Registration of surgical outcomes and benefits experienced by the patient takes place for part of the total number of operations during the year. Here, the inclusion criterion is all surgery performed in sequence during a calendar month (currently the month of March) corresponding to approximately 10% of the annual number of procedures.

Participating Units
All public clinics/departments in Sweden. 98% of all operations provided by privately owned clinics are also reported.
 

Year Started
1992. The outcome and benefit register was started in 1994. The endophthalmitis register started in 1998.

Volume
 About 72.300 operations per year (2007). In January 2008, the database contained more than 924.000 operations.

Coverage
 95% of all cataract extractions performed annually in Sweden since 1992.

 
Last uppdate 2008-10-21