Visual acuity thresholds for cataract surgery and the changing Australian population.

Objective: To examine the relation between visual acuity thresholds for cataract surgery for the changing Australian population.

Methods: Population-based 5-year incidence data for 2594 people were used to calculate age-specific prevalence of incident cataract and existing cataract backlog. The cataract surgery rates (CSRs) per million people were estimated for different acuity thresholds for the Australian population at different times.

Lutein and zeaxanthin and the risk of cataract: the Melbourne visual impairment project.

Purpose: To evaluate the association of cortical, nuclear, or posterior subcapsular (PSC) cataract with dietary intake of lutein-zeaxanthin (LZ) in a population-based sample.

Methods: For the study, 3271 (83% of the eligible residents) permanent residents aged > or =40 years were recruited in 1992 to 1994 via a cluster random sampling. In 1997 to 1999, 2594 (79%) attended the follow-up examination including lens photography, a life-style questionnaire, and a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ).

Vision loss in Australia.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and causes of vision loss in Australia and to project these data into the future.

Design: Synthesis of data from two cross-sectional population-based cohort studies--the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project and the Blue Mountains Eye Study--and extrapolation to the entire Australian population.

Setting And Participants: 8376 community and 533 nursing home residents recruited between 1992 and 1996 in urban and rural Victoria and New South Wales.

Association of the M55L and Q192R paraoxonase gene polymorphisms with age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To investigate the reported association of the two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the paraoxonase gene (PON1), Met-Leu 55 (M55L) and Gln-Arg 192 (Q192R), in individuals of Anglo-Celtic descent who have age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: Case-control association study.

Methods: Sixty-two individuals with late (end-stage) AMD and 115 control subjects (without AMD) were included in this study.

Detection of undiagnosed glaucoma by eye health professionals.

Purpose: To examine the clinical features of undiagnosed open-angle glaucoma (OAG) in people who have attended an eye care provider within the previous 12 months and to suggest strategies to assist in the early detection of glaucoma.

Design: Population based cross-sectional study.

Participants: Permanent residents aged 40 years and older at recruitment during 1992 through 1996.

The need for routine eye examinations.

Purpose: To determine the incidence and causes of vision loss to assist in the objective determination of the preferred frequency of routine screening for those with normal vision.

Methods: A prospective, population-based study of people aged 40 or more years. Standardized examination protocols were used that included presenting and best corrected visual acuity, visual field testing, and comprehensive eye examination with dilation.

The epsilon2 and epsilon4 alleles of the apolipoprotein gene are associated with age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To date, of all the genes studied in relation to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the alleles of the apolipoprotein (apoE) gene have been the most consistently associated with disease. However, not all apoE studies have found an association, and among these the associations differ. The current study was conducted to investigate further the association of this gene in AMD.

The impact of smoking on use of hospital services: the Busselton study.

Objective: To use the Busselton study to estimate the impact of smoking on hospital use in Australia.

Methods: People on the electoral roll in Busselton in 1978 were invited to attend a survey where smoking habits were measured. 3,230 people aged 25 to 79 at the survey were followed until 1994 by record linkage to death records and to the Western Australian Hospital Morbidity Data System.