Cataract surgery was carried out just over 5.0 million times across the EU in 2023, a rate of 1,118.0 operations per 100,000 people.
A cataract operation involves removing the eye’s natural lens, Eurostat said in a release on Monday.
Luxembourg recorded the highest rate at 1,627.3 surgeries per 100,000 people, followed by France (1,598.7) and Estonia (1,506.8).
Romania had the lowest rate, with 389.4 cataract surgeries per 100,000 people, followed by Poland (628.8) and Bulgaria (745.8).
Most patients went home the same day
Only 6.4% of cataract surgery patients across the EU were admitted as in-patients needing an overnight stay, while most were released on the same day as day patients (55.8%) or out-patients (37.8%), based on data available for 24 countries, Eurostat said.
In 19 of the EU’s 27 countries, more than half of cataract surgery patients were registered as day patients, with shares ranging from 98.0% in Malta to 99.2% in Portugal.
Out-patients made up most cataract surgery cases in Slovenia (98.8%), Czechia (98.5%), Italy (91.9%), Germany (87.9%) and the Netherlands (79.9%).
In Romania and Bulgaria, the majority of patients were kept overnight, with in-patient shares of 57.0% and 54.7% respectively.
