Elevated Risk of Mood Disorders after the Occurrence of Recurrent Retinal Detachment: A Population-Based Cohort Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of mood disorders in patients who experienced retinal detachment (RD) by using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan.

Participants with a diagnosis of RD were regarded as the study group, and an age- and sex-matched group without a diagnosis of RD served as the control group. The outcomes related to mood disorders after RD included: (1) psychiatric outpatient department visits; (2) behavioural therapy; (3) sleep or anxiety-related disorders; and (4) major depressive disorder (MDD).

A total of 4,129 participants diagnosed with RD and 16,516 non-RD individuals were enrolled in the study. There were no significant differences in the four mood disorder-related outcomes between the study and control groups. However, the patients with recurrent RD who received more than two treatments and female patients with RD who needed surgical treatment showed a higher probability of developing MDD than did the non-RD subjects (incidence rate: 0.96 vs. 0.36; adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 2.382, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.032-5.496, log-rank p = 0.0325; and aHR: 6.895, 95% CI: 1.659-28.656, log-rank p = 0.0060, respectively).

Patients with recurrent RD and multiple surgeries and females with RD who needed surgical treatment were at greater risk for developing MDD.