Abstract
Purpose :
Personality factors are increasingly associated with health traits and treatment outcomes. The purpose of this large population-based study was to investigate underlying personality traits in common eye disorders and traits.
Methods :
62,684 participants (age range 20-97 yrs, 58% female) from the population-based Lifelines cohort in the Netherlands were included. Six eye disorders and traits were cross-sectionally assessed using a self-administered questionnaire: dry eye disease (based on the WHS dry eye questionnaire, n=5,352), allergic conjunctivitis (treated, n=625), glaucoma or ocular hypertension (treated, n=426), history of refractive surgery (n=955), current contact lens use (n=8,717), and a clinical diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (n=570). A 99 questions NEO personality inventory questionnaire was used to investigate 8 facet subscales: competence, self-discipline, deliberation, angry hostility, self-consciousness, impulsivity, vulnerability, and excitement-seeking. Linear regression including age, sex and BMI as covariates was used to assess the association between personality subscale scores and eye disorders (Bonferroni corrected).
Results :
Dry eye patients scored significantly higher on all 4 neuroticism subscales: angry hostility (+4% percentile rank), vulnerability (+3%), impulsivity (+3%), and self-consciousness (+2%), and had lower conscientiousness scores: competence (-2%), self-discipline (-2%), and deliberation (-2%). Interestingly, except for impulsivity, refractive surgery patients scored the opposite, with particularly high competence (+6%), excitement-seeking (+5%), impulsivity (+4%) and low vulnerability (-5%). Contact lens users scored broadly similar to refractive surgery patients, but less extreme. Patients with allergic conjunctivitis and glaucoma/ocular hypertension did not score significantly different on any of the personality subscales. AMD patients appeared to have significantly increased excitement-seeking scores (+4%).
Conclusions :
This study indicates that personality factors vary between patients with different eye disorders, with dry eye and refractive surgery patients having the most divergent personalities of the six investigated. These factors might contribute to mechanisms of disease, and are important in determining how patients experience their disorder and cope with stress.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.