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    Publication

    The Better Operative Outcomes Software Tool (BOOST) prospective study: improving the quality of cataract surgery outcomes in low resource settings

    Journal: Ophthalmic Epidemiology

    Summary

    This prospective, multisite, single-armed, pragmatic validation study aimed to assess whether receiving tailored recommendations via the free Better Operative Outcomes Software Tool (BOOST) app improved surgical outcomes, as quantified by post-operative unaided distance visual acuity (UVA) measured 1–3 days after surgery.

    During the baseline data collection round, surgeons in low and middle income countries recorded clinical characteristics of 60 consecutive cataract cases in BOOST. Additional data on the causes of poor outcomes from 20 consecutive cases with post-operative UVA of <6/60 (4–12 weeks post-surgery) were entered to automatically generate tailored recommendations for improvement, before 60 additional consecutive cases were recorded during the follow-up study round. Average UVA was compared between cases recorded in the baseline study round and those recorded during follow-up.

    Among 4,233 cataract surgeries performed by 41 surgeons in 18 countries, only 2,002 (47.3%) had post-operative UVA 6/12 or better. Among the 14 surgeons (34.1%) who completed both rounds of the study (1,680 cases total), there was no clinically significant improvement in post-operative average UVA (logMAR units ±SD) between baseline (0.50 ± 0.37) and follow-up (0.47 ± 0.36) rounds (mean improvement 0.03, p = 0.486).

    Receiving BOOST-generated recommendations did not result in improved UVA beyond what could be expected from prospective monitoring of surgical outcomes alone.

    Read the journal article

    Related tags

    Eye health
    Publication details
    Date published
    18 April 2024
    Type
    Original research
    Journal
    Ophthalmic Epidemiology
    Themes/conditions
    Eye health
    Publication details
    Date published
    18 April 2024
    Type
    Original research
    Journal
    Ophthalmic Epidemiology
    Themes/conditions
    Eye health

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