Objective: To investigate the reasons why patients suffering hypermature or mature cataract in the urban Qingdao city do not undergo cataract surgery in time.
Methods: 104 inpatients with mature or hypermature age-related cataract were interviewed with a questionnaire concerning medical, economic, social and psychological factors.
Results: The factors related with the surgery delay were medical factor 44.3%, economic factor 7.1%, social factor 20.7% and psychological factor 27.9%. In the lists of detailed reasons, 'cataract being not mature' ranked the first (17.1%), 'unaware of cataract' (14.3%) and "still able to see something" (10.0%) were followed. The history of cataract surgery, age, degree of education, the knowledge of cataract and individual income all played some roles in the delay of cataract surgery (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: It is important to educate people about cataract knowledge and clarify the role of cataract surgery in order to convince patients to have cataract surgery done in time and improve life quality.