Ten years of cataract epidemiology studies in the Department of Experimental Ophthalmology, 1980-1990.

The knowledge of the multifactorial genesis of the so-called senile cataract has initiated an intensified search for cataract-related risk factors. The mechanisms of syn- and cocataractogenesis could already be shown in the Department of Experimental Ophthalmology, Bonn, in the seventies. Subsequently, cataract epidemiology became a field of interest in 1980 when all available epidemiological data related to cataract research were first collected and reviewed. It has become obvious that the various types of cataract morphology do not represent one unique disease 'senile cataract' but reflect different biochemical characteristics. A preliminary study assigned data of case history as well as blood and lens biochemistry to four types of lens opacity. Scheimpflug photography and multilinear microdensitometry were the basis for classifying cataract lenses. After increasing the number of involved patients, the data were analyzed by means of multivariate statistics. The originally used cataract classification system was enlarged to eight types of frequently seen cataract morphologies. A control group was built up to enable case-control studies as well as to obtain characteristics of normal lens density related to age.