Deterioration of vision, visual field defects and increased recognition of psychological disturbances all dramatically reduce vision-related quality of life in glaucoma patients, researchers in China have found.

They administered the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to 428 Chinese glaucoma patients to assess their vision-related quality of life and determine any occurrences of anxiety and depression disorders. After adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical factors, the study found that quality of life was significantly associated with visual function indices, which included best-corrected visual acuity and mean deviation of both eyes. The patient’s quality of life was also significantly associated with psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression. Further analysis suggested that psychological disorders, especially anxiety, rather than visual function, were mostly relevant to vision-related quality of life.

The researchers believe that alleviating the psychological symptoms, especially those related to anxiety, could have a greater influence on improving glaucoma patients’ quality of life.