Prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders in patients with glaucoma: a cross-sectional study

Our goal was to analyze the prevalence of depression and anxiety among patients with glaucoma and to identify risk factors related to these disorders.

A cross-sectional study was carried out between August 2016 and August 2017 at the Hospital das Clínicas of Universidade Estadual de Campinas and at the Hospital Oftalmológico de Brasília to evaluate the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders among patients diagnosed with glaucoma. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination with standard automated perimetry to confirm the diagnosis of glaucoma. All participants were asked to complete the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale questionnaire.

One hundred and twenty-nine patients were included in the study. Seventy-four were men (57.36%) and 55 (42.64%) were women. The mean age of the patients was 70.14 ± 15.8 years. Ninety participants were white (69.77%) and 38 (29.46%) were black. The study demonstrated a prevalence of depression and/or anxiety at 10.08%. Logistic regression revealed that women were at higher risk for anxiety and/or depression (OR: 5.25, p=0.015) and patients with a larger number of comorbidities also were at higher risk for anxiety and/or depressive disorders (OR: 2.82, p=0.038).

A significant proportion of patients with glaucoma present with depression and/or anxiety. Females and patients with comorbidities are at greater risk for these disorders.