The impact of age-related cataracts on colour perception, postoperative recovery and related spectra derived from test of hue perception

BACKGROUND: Cataract patients were always excluded from studies on ageing of colour vision; thus, effect of age-related cataracts on deterioration of colour perception has not been analysed. In present study, impacts of age-related cataracts on colour discrimination, postoperative recovery and related spectra were investigated. METHODS: In this cohort study, thirty age-related cataract patients scheduled for binocular surgery and 30 elderly volunteers were enrolled. Colour discrimination under photopic (1000 lx) and mesopic (40 lx) conditions was evaluated with Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test. The total error score (TES) and partial error score (PES) were calculated. RESULTS: Preoperatively, the TES in the patient group was 129.7 ± 59.5 at 1000 lx and 194.6 ± 74.5 at 40 lx, exhibiting worse discrimination than the volunteer group (TES(1000lux) = 71.5 ± 37.5 and TES(40lux) = 113.1 ± 38.8, p ≤ 0.001). Inferior perception were detected in the yellow to green-yellow (Y-GY), green-yellow to green (GY-G), green to blue-green (G-BG) and blue-green to blue (BG-B) colour bands (p ≤ 0.003), corresponding to the 470 nm–580 nm range of the visible light spectrum. Under mesopic conditions, the impact expanded to all colour bands except for yellow-red to yellow (YR-Y). Postoperatively, the TES in the patient group were 80.4 ± 62.4 at 1000 lx and 112.0 ± 85.2 at 40 lx, which were lower than those of the preoperative phase (p ≤ 0.001) but similar to those of the volunteer group (p ≥ 0.505). Postoperative improvement occurred in the Y-GY, GY-G and G-BG colour bands (490 nm to 580 nm) at 1000 lx (p ≤ 0.001) and shifted to the Y-GY, GY-G, G-BG and BG-B colour bands (470 nm to 580 nm) at 40 lx (p ≤ 0.001). Deterioration of hue perception for decrement of illumination was detected in the red to yellow-red (R-YR), Y-GY, G-BG, BG-B, blue to purple-blue (B-PB) and red-purple to red (RP-R) colour bands (450 nm to 500 nm) in the volunteer group (p ≤ 0.002) and the R-YR, G-BG, BG-B, B-PB, PB-P and red-purple to red (RP-R) colour bands (from the short-wavelength end to 500 nm) in the patient group preoperatively (p ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Phacoemulsification could effectively rebuild colour perception in patients with age-related cataract. The postoperative benefits were most significant in colour bands corresponding with spectrum from 470 nm to 580 nm. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12886-019-1057-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.