Caracterização da produção científica sobre polimorfismos genéticos em catarata.

Abstract

Cataracts are the leading cause of reversible blindness worldwide. It is estimated that currently about 20 million people are blind due to cataract, and this number is expected to grow with increasing life expectancy of the world population. Any opacity in the crystalline lens that causes light scattering and damage to vision is considered cataract. In this paper we conducted a survey and characterization of scientific literature on genetic polymorphisms in the various types of cataracts. The "Scopus" platform was used for the survey of articles and reviews. The analyzed data showed a growing number of publications on the subject in recent years; there is a large concentration of papers among the countries that publish on polymorphisms in cataracts, as well as the authors and institutions. One single journal (Molecular Vision) accounted for almost 35% of publications on the subject, and also an article stood out for the high impact factor of the journal in which it was published. We conclude that there is a growing interest about genetic polymorphisms of cataract, with a significant increase in research and publications, envisioning a future control of expression of these genes, in order to control the aging of the lens and dominate the emergence of cataract in individuals.