Abstract
Purpose :
Little is known about the stress levels amongst patients treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Our aim was to investigate perceived stress levels amongst patients with nAMD. We hypothesized that perceived stress is associated with visual function.
Methods :
Patients diagnosed with nAMD from a hospital in the southeast of Sweden and scheduled for treatment with anti-VEGFs injections were invited to participate. Patients needed to have received at least 3 injections before participation. Participants completed the Swedish versions of the Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS-10) and the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25). Visual acuity was measured before the scheduled treatment.
Results :
The study included 150 patients, the mean age was 79 yrs (range 56-98 yrs) and 101 (67%) were female. The median VA in the better seeing eye was 0.22 (IQR=0.36) logMAR, mean PSS-10 score was 12.59 (SD=6.22). Participants with near vision impairment scored higher in the PSS-10 than those with normal near vision. Participants who were blind in one eye showed worse coping-ability than those with two seeing eyes. PSS-10 scores and visual function measured subjectively with the NEI-VFQ-25 subscale were correlated.
Conclusions :
In line with the initial hypothesis the results show that patients with impaired vision perceive more stress than those with unimpaired vision. Subjective measures of visual function were considered better than clinical acuity at predicting perceived stress levels. Improving near acuity as well as discussing patients’ perception of visual function might reduce stress levels in this patient group.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.