The study was done to assess the impact of anxiety and depression in the risk of converting to glaucoma in a cohort of glaucoma suspects followed over time.
The study included a retrospective cohort of subjects with diagnosis of glaucoma suspect at baseline, extracted from the Duke Glaucoma Registry. The presence of anxiety and depression was defined based on electronic health records billing codes, medical history and problem list. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to obtain HRs for the risk of converting to glaucoma over time.
3259 glaucoma suspects followed for an average of 3.60 (2.05) years were included in our cohort, of which 28% were diagnosed with glaucoma during follow-up. Prevalence of anxiety and depression were 32% and 33%, respectively. Diagnosis of anxiety, or concomitant anxiety and depression were significantly associated with risk of converting to glaucoma over time, with adjusted HRs (95% CI) of 1.16 (1.01, 1.33) and 1.27 (1.07, 1.50), respectively.
The study concluded that having a history of anxiety or both anxiety and depression in glaucoma suspects was associated with developing glaucoma during follow-up.
Reference: https://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2020/08/29/bjophthalmol-2020-316617
