ArticleCommunications medicine2025
Nationwide analysis of sex differences in waiting times for cataract surgery in Sweden between 2010 and 2022.
Article in Communications medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- MRI Waiting Time Disparities in Saudi Public Hospitals: A Six-Year Retrospective Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Residence and insurance inequities in the timeliness of access to first-eye cataract surgery in Eastern China.International ophthalmology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSex-based disparities in healthcare access remain a global challenge. We aimed to investigate differences in waiting times for cataract surgery between males and females in Sweden, hypothesizing that such disparities might persist even within a universal healthcare system.
methodsWe performed a nationwide retrospective cohort study using data from the Swedish National Cataract Register, which includes over 93% of all cataract surgeries. A total of 1,413,652 patients over 40 years of age who underwent cataract surgery between 2010 and 2022 were included. Exclusions were applied to those with waiting times exceeding 24 months and those residing outside Sweden. The primary outcome was waiting time between preoperative assessment and surgery, stratified by visual acuity, region, and demographic and clinical factors.
resultsHere we show a mean waiting time of 64 days (standard deviation 126) for females and 60 days (standard deviation 102) for males (P < 0.001). This difference persists across all visual acuity strata and regions. A linear mixed-effects model with region as a random intercept indicates that males have a 3.3-day shorter waiting time compared to females (P < 0.001). Multivariate hazards regression identifies female sex, older age, specific comorbidities, and region of residence as significant predictors of longer waiting times. Although overall waiting times decrease over the study period, the sex-based gap remains consistent.
conclusionsWe observe a persistent, albeit small, difference in waiting times favoring males. These findings highlight a systemic disparity that warrants further investigation and targeted interventions to ensure equitable access to cataract care.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.