Association between conventional or blue-light-filtering intraocular lenses and survival in bilateral cataract surgery patients.

ABSTRACT

Circadian rhythms regulate adaptive alterations in mammalian physiology and are maximally entrained by the short wavelength blue spectrum; cataracts block the transmission of light, particularly blue light. Cataract surgery is performed with two types of intraocular lenses (IOL) (1) conventional IOL that transmit the entire visible spectrum and (2) blue-light-filtering (BF) IOL that block the short wavelength blue spectrum. We hypothesized that the transmission properties of IOL are associated with long-term survival. This retrospective cohort study of a 15-hospital healthcare system identified 9,108 participants who underwent bilateral cataract surgery; 3,087 were implanted with conventional IOL and 6,021 received BF-IOL. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models that included several a priori determined subgroup and sensitivity analyses yielded estimates supporting that conventional IOL compared with BF-IOL may be associated with significantly reduced risk of long-term death. Confirming these differences and identifying any potential causal mechanisms await the conduct of appropriately controlled prospective translational trials.