High Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in Patients With Open Angle Glaucoma

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: To assess anxiety and depression in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG), and to investigate whether beta–blocker eye–drops are responsible for the symptoms of depression. Methods: Two hundred thirty patients with OAG and 230 sex– and age–matched reference subjects with no chronic ocular conditions except cataracts were prospectively enrolled from ophthalmology practices in Yamanashi University Hospital and 14 general hospitals. Anxiety and depression were evaluated using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire, which consists of two subscales with ranges of 0–21, representing anxiety (HADS–A) and depression (HADS–D). The prevalence of OAG patients with anxiety (a score of more than 10 on the HADS–A) or depression (a score of more than 10 on the HADS–D) was compared with that in the reference subjects. The prevalence of patients with depression was compared between the OAG patients with and without current beta–blocker eye drops. Results: The prevalence (13.0%) of OAG patients with anxiety was significantly higher (p=.030) than in the reference subjects (7.0%). The prevalence (10.9%) of OAG patients with depression was significantly higher (p=.026) than in the reference subjects (5.2%). The prevalence of OAG patients with depression was 15 out of the 136 patients (11.0%) and 10 out of the 94 patients (10.6%) with and without beta–blocker eye–drops, respectively. This was not significantly different (p=.93) despite the high prevalence of progressive cases amongst the OAG patients using beta–blocker eye–drops. Conclusions: Patients with glaucoma are more anxious and depressed than patient without glaucoma.

Keywords: quality of life