Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety among Participants with Glaucoma in a European cohort: The Gutenberg Health Study

Abstract

Purpose : The fear of potential vision loss may result in a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety among glaucoma patients. Objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety among subjects with self-reported glaucoma and the association between glaucoma and both mental diseases in a European cohort.

Methods : A study sample of 14,657 participants aged 35 to 74 years was investigated in a population-based cohort study. All participants reported presence or absence of glaucoma. Ophthalmological examinations were carried out in all participants. Depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and generalized anxiety with the two screening items (GAD-2) of the short form of the GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale). Prevalence of depression and generalized anxiety were investigated for subjects with and without self-reported glaucoma. Logistic regression analyses with depression, resp. anxiety as dependent variable and self-reported glaucoma as independent variable were conducted and adjusted for socio-demographic factors, systemic comorbidities, ocular diseases, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, antiglaucoma eye drops and general health status.

Results : 293 participants (49.5% female) reported having glaucoma. Prevalence of depression among participants with and without self-reported glaucoma was 6.6% (95%-CI 4.1-10.3) resp. 7.7% (95%-CI 7.3-8.2), and for anxiety 5.3% (95%-CI 3.1-8.7) resp. 6.6% (95%-CI 6.2-7.1). Glaucoma was not associated with depression (Odds ratio 1.10, 95%-CI 0.50-2.38, p=0.80) or anxiety (1.48, 95%-CI 0.63-3.30, p=0.35) after adjustment for socio-demographic factors, ocular/systemic diseases, ocular parameters, antiglaucoma drugs and general health status. A restriction to self-reported glaucoma cases either taking topical antiglaucoma medications or having a history of glaucoma surgery did not alter the results.

Conclusions : This is the first study analyzing both depression and anxiety among glaucoma patients in a European cohort. Subjects with self-reported glaucoma did not have a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety. A lack of a burden of depressive symptoms and severe glaucoma cases may result from recruitment from a population-based sample as compared to previous study groups predominantly recruited from tertiary care hospitals.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.