Pattern of characteristics in cataract patients.

. Cataract extraction was performed in 1261 eyes. The relevant information was complete in 826 cases and thus only these were included in this study. Eleven variables describing clinical history, preoperative findings, operative problems and one variable representing visual acuity 4 months postoperatively were entered into a factor analysis model. Three factors were extracted by factor analysis, and these factors may be considered to be the underlying causes embracing the individual variables. Factor 1: the maculopathy factor; explained 23.3% of the total variance. Sixteen percent of the variance was attributable to Factor 2: the miosis factor. Lastly, Factor 3: operative problems; was responsible for 13.4% of the variance. The maculopathy factor was significantly associated with postoperative visual acuity (p < 0.001). Slight significant association was also found between the factor for operative problems and visual outcome, whereas no association was seen between the miosis factor and the final vision.