PurposeThe objective of this study was to investigate preoperative factors associated with postoperative visual acuity outcomes and to develop a model to predict visual acuity prognosis.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted by reviewing clinical charts of pediatric patients who underwent bilateral cataract surgery by a single surgeon (MEW) at the Storm Eye Institute. A multiple logistic regression model was constructed to predict the odds of poor postoperative visual acuity, that is, worse than 20/40, based on age at surgery, gender, primary intraocular lens (IOL) placement, ethnicity, and preoperative nystagmus.ResultsA sample size of 157 children (314 eyes) was investigated with median duration of follow-up of 6.4 years. A total of 78% of children with bilateral cataract had postoperative visual acuity of 20/40 or better. The presence of preoperative nystagmus was highly correlated with poor postoperative visual acuity (OR=6.0; 95% CLs, 2.5-14.1; P-value<0.0001). Children of age <1 year at time of cataract extraction (OR=3.2; 95% CLs, 1.4-7.6; P-value=0.0073), male gender (OR=2.3; 95% CLs, 1.1-4.5; P-value=0.02), the absence of primary IOL placement (OR=3.0; 95% CLs, 1.05-8.4; P-value=0.04), and non-Caucasian ethnicity (OR=2.0; 95% CLs, 1.02-4.03; P-value 0.0447) were associated with poor visual acuity postoperatively.ConclusionsSatisfactory visual outcomes occurred in 78% of children operated on for bilateral cataracts. Preoperative nystagmus, age <1 year at time of cataract extraction, absence of primary IOL placement, male gender, and non-Caucasian ethnicity, were all factors associated with poor postoperative visual acuity.