Observation on Anxiety and Depression of Glaucoma Patients

Ha, Myung Sook; Chang, Moo Hwan; Lee, Jong Hoon

Abstract

PURPOSE: To determine whether correlation exists between anxiety/depression and the advent/ progression of the disease in glaucoma patients. We compared the degree of anxiety and depression among 3 groups which consist of glaucoma patients, cataract patients, and healthy individuals.
METHODS
Between July 1, 1999 and December 31, 1999, a written survey was conducted on three groups of people-glaucoma patients, cataract patients, and healthy individuals, who visited Dankook University Hospital's Ophthalmology Outpatient Depatment. Each group consists of 25 people. The Spielberg's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was employed to quantify the degree of anxiety. STAI consists of 40 questions; 20 questions were designed to measure State Anxiety (STAI-S) and 20 questions to measure Trait Anxiety (STAI-T). In each question, the participants were asked to give scores of 1 to 4. In order to measure the degree of depression, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was employed which consists of 21 questions with a 0 to 3 scoring scale for each question.
RESULTS
In glaucoma patient group, the average STAI-S score was 44.76+/-13.64, STAI-T score 43.92+/-11.66, and BDI score 15.72+/-10.16. The obtained score was significantly higher compared to cataract patient group (34.64+/-9.17, 34.84+/-10.76, 8.44+/-6.80) and normal group (35.56+/-7.30, 34.52+/-7.70, 8.76+/-4.92) and such findings implied that the degree of anxiety and depression was significantly higher in glaucoma patient group. The severity of intraocular pressure, visual field, visual acuity, and cup to disc ratio did not seem to be correlated with anxiety and depression. DISCUSSIONS: In glaucoma patients, a psychological self training in daily life, in addition to surgical or medical treatment, which can help reduce anxiety and depression can be a useful complement to the conventional treatment modalities.