Endophthalmitis Incidence of Cancer Patients After Cataract Surgery: A Nationwide Matched Cohort Study in Taiwan

Purpose To compare the incidence rate of endophthalmitis after cataract surgery between cancer cohort and matched noncancer cohort. Design Matched cohort study. Methods Patients with cataract surgery of both eyes among a nationwide cancer cohort and 1:1 matched noncancer cohort were enrolled from the years 1998 to 2012 in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Both the cancer group and the control group were followed for 3 months after the cataract surgery to obtain the rate of endophthalmitis. Results There were 23 362 patients each in the cancer cohort and in the matched noncancer cohort. The mean age of receiving first cataract surgery was 71 years. The mean duration of receiving cataract surgery was 4.3 years after cancer diagnosis. The mean duration between 2 cataract surgeries was 8-9 months. The rate of endophthalmitis within 3 months after cataract surgery was similar between the 2 study groups: 2.4‰ (95% confidence interval = 1.9‰–2.8‰) for the cancer group and 2.3‰ (95% confidence interval = 1.9‰–2.8‰) for the noncancer group, respectively ( P  = .892). Conclusions Cancer patients have a similar risk of endophthalmitis following cataract surgery as the noncancer population, and the current study suggests that cataract surgery can be considered as appropriately indicated for cancer patients.