Many of the characteristics of the treated eye were restricted by the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the IATS. Thus patients with a corneal diameter <9 mm or an intraocular pressure ≥25 mmHg were automatically excluded. Additionally, patients whose cataractous eye had persistent fetal vasculature (PFV) causing stretching of the ciliary processes or tractional detachment of the retina were not eligible. The presence of active uveitis or signs of previous episodes of uveitis, as well as retinal disease or optic nerve disease, that could limit the visual potential of the eye were also exclusion criteria. These are all likely poor prognostic factors, but will not be discussed in this chapter.

We used the 4.5 year recognition visual acuity (VA) data to explore the relationship between baseline variables and later visual outcome. Correlations were determined between each baseline characteristic as a single variable and logMAR VA. The results are shown in Tables 5.2 and 5.3, with statistical analyses from continuous baseline variables listed in Table 5.2 and analyses from categorical variables listed in Table 5.3. We found that only age at the time of surgery and type of health care insurance had any statistically significant relationship with logMAR VA in our sample. Nonetheless, we will initially discuss information obtained about the type of cataract.