Depression and anxiety in patients with pseudoexfoliative glaucoma.

Objective: 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.

Method: 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.

Results: 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).

Conclusion: 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.