Cataracts may raise risk of fractures

Individuals with cataracts are more likely to experience fractures than those without the condition, suggests a study. However, people who have undergone cataract surgery appear to have a significantly lower fracture risk, offering a potential protective effect.

The meta-analysis, which examined data from over 4.7 million people and identified nearly 285,000 fracture incidents from 11 out of 16 eligible studies, revealed low to moderate-certainty evidence on the link between cataracts and fracture risk.

Individuals with cataracts showed an increased fracture risk (odds ratio [OR], 1.44, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.75–2.75; p>0.05; hazard ratio [HR], 1.51, 95 percent CI, 1.14–2.01; p=0.0152) compared with those without.

In Bayesian network meta-analyses, people with cataracts had greater risk of fractures than both phakic individuals without cataracts (OR, 3.0, 95 percent credible interval [CrI], 2.8–3.3; HR, 1.1, 95 percent CrI, 1.09–1.12) and pseudophakic individuals (OR, 1.7, 95 percent CrI, 1.6–1.8; HR, 1.28, 95 percent CrI, 1.24–1.31).

Furthermore, pseudophakic individuals showed a 27-percent lower fracture risk than phakic individuals with cataracts. For every eight pseudophakic individuals, one fewer fracture event occurred.

Despite these findings, the investigators highlighted the need for further studies to better understand the causal link between cataracts and fractures, as well as to assess the long-term effects of cataract surgery on fracture prevention.