MedTrace Logo

Patient Participation in Free Cataract Surgery

NCT02633865 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 883

Last updated 2016-04-20

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Age-related cataracts remain the leading cause of treatable blindness in China. The prevalence of cataract blindness continues to climb due to the expanding elderly subpopulation. Surgery is the only available treatment; however, the cataract surgical rate (CSR) in China remains relatively low relative to affluent countries or certain developing areas. Studies have reported that the primary barrier to cataract surgery is financial difficulty, and this challenge could be efficiently addressed by reducing the surgical fee or providing free cataract surgery. However, the prices, availability and affordability of medicines or medical services to the poor in China require further improvement. Although a host of free cataract screening and surgery programs have been widely implemented in rural areas of China, free cataract surgery programs have rarely been implemented in financially-challenged urban China. Even in Guangzhou, one of the largest metropolises in China, many low-income cataract patients, a neglected cohort, continue to need cataract surgery. A program titled "care for your eyes, lighten your life", jointly sponsored by the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Guangzhou Municipality, and the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC), has been initiated in Guangzhou to implement a program of free clinics in parks and free cataract surgery targeting the impoverished population living in urban China in 2012. After 3 years' exploration, the management mode of this program has been perfected, and approximately 4000 cataract surgeries had been performed on the low-income elderly.

Although there are a large number of poor communities throughout the country, free cataract surgery programs in poor urban China are restricted to several metropolises due to limited medical resources and social overlook. Fully understanding patient satisfaction regarding the free cataract surgery program and understanding the patient characteristics of this special, neglected community may contribute to the improvement and the further expansion of the management mode of free cataract surgery programs.

Conditions

  • Cataract

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Ministry of Health, China

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • Sun Yat-sen University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Weirong Chen, M.D. · Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University

  • Yizhi Liu, M.D.;Ph.D. · Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University

  • Haotian Lin, M.D.;Ph.D. · Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Max Age
102 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2012-05-31
Primary Completion
2014-08-31
Completion
2014-08-31

Countries

  • China

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02633865 on ClinicalTrials.gov