Depression and anxiety in patients with pseudoexfoliative glaucoma

This study aimed to determine whether patients with pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PXG), associated with vascular disorders, have more depressive and anxiety symptoms than patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and controls without glaucoma. The vascular depression model was tested in this study.

The sample consisted of 41 PXG patients, 32 POAG patients and 40 controls. Each subject was diagnosed as having PXG or POAG or chosen as a control patient by an ophthalmologist and then evaluated by a psychiatrist. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Turkish version; Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS); Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS); Mini Mental State Examination; and Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) were administered to all subjects.

The HDRS and MADRS scores of the PXG patients were significantly higher than those of the POAG and the control group (chi(2)=9.858, p=.007 and chi(2)=11.618, p=.003, respectively). The HARS scores did not show a significant difference between the patients with PXG or POAG and the control subjects (chi(2)=1.615, p=.446). In each of the three groups, there was no correlation between the HDRS, HARS or MADRS scores and any of the following parameters: duration of glaucoma, medical treatment, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, perimetric stage, cup-disc ratio and number of glaucoma operations (p>.05).

A relationship between PXG and severity of depressive symptoms was shown by our data. However, no significant difference could be found between the anxiety levels of the three groups.