Lack of perceived social support contributes to depression and anxiety in patients with glaucoma

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and associated factors for depression and anxiety among glaucoma patients in a tertiary referral centre. Their relationship with perceived social support is also explored.Study design: Cross-sectional study involving 176 glaucoma patients.Methods: Patients with known psychiatric illness, physical limitations, and other visually debilitating ocular conditions were excluded. Measurement tools included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Ocular examination parameters such as LogMAR visual acuity, mean deviation (MD) on standard automated perimetry, and intraocular pressure (IOP) were recorded along with sociodemographic and clinical history. Multivariate linear regression analysis was carried out to identify predictive factors for depression and anxiety.Results: The prevalence of depression and anxiety among glaucoma patients was 6.8% and 9.1% respectively. MSPSS scores were significantly lower in patients with depression (p = 0.019) and anxiety (p = 0.016). Patients with depression and anxiety had significantly worse visual acuity and MD values. After adjustment with multiple regression analysis, depression or anxiety were still significantly associated with MD values (depression b = -0.13, p < 0.001, whereas anxiety b = -0.10, p = 0.001) and MSPSS scores (b = -0.08, p < 0.001). IOP of the worse eye was associated with anxiety (b = 0.2, P = 0.002), whereas widowed status was associated with depression (p < 0.005).Conclusions: Analysed HADS scores in this study show depression and anxiety rates among glaucoma patients in this population are relatively low. Severe glaucoma and lack of perceived social support are significant predictive factors. The findings underline the importance of screening for depression and anxiety in glaucoma patients to provide psychosocial intervention where needed.