Men have more conjunctival bacteria than women, study says

Elderly patients who have not yet undergone cataract surgery have a higher amount of conjunctival bacteria than their younger counterparts also waiting to undergo cataract surgery, according to a study. Regardless of age, however, men had more bacteria than women, the study author says.

E.F. Rubio retrospectively reviewed the charts of 4,432 patients who underwent cataract surgery at University General Hospital in Madrid, Spain. The preoperative conjunctival cultures were performed over a 3-year period. Bacteria were grouped into nine categories and patients were divided into seven groups based on age at baseline. Overall, women comprise 53.4% of the group.

Different bacteria frequency in both sexes produced a confounding effect in the comparison between age groups. Men presented with more Staphylococci coagulase, S. pneumoniae and gram-negative rods than women. Patients between the ages of 75 and 96 had a greater frequency of Corynebacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, gram-negative cocci and gram-negative rods than patients in the 3- to 74-years-old group.

The study is published in Eye.