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Ocular Surface

Dry Eye-Related Visual Blurring and Irritative Symptoms and Their Association with Depression and Anxiety in Eye Clinic Patients

, , &
Pages 590-599 | Received 26 Feb 2015, Accepted 26 May 2015, Published online: 04 Sep 2015
 

Abstract

Purpose: Dry eye is a common condition known to have many systemic co-morbidities. We aim to report the frequency of depression and anxiety suspects in eye clinic patients and explore the association between dry eye signs and symptoms with depression and anxiety.

Materials and methods: Adult outpatients were recruited from dry a public tertiary ophthalmology specialist center. Participants underwent socio-demographic and dry eye symptoms questionnaires, fluorescein dye tear break-up time (TBUT), fluorescein dye corneal staining and Schirmer’s test. Rasch analysis was used to internally validate the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and determine its psychometric properties.

Results: A total of 96 participants (mean age 54.5 ± 10.8; 64.1% women) were recruited. The mean score for the CES-D was 12.1 ± 9.8 with 28 participants (31.5%) having a score of above 16 (published threshold). The mean score for depression-associated questions in the HADS was 3.6 ± 3.6 with 13 participants (14.1%) having a score ≥8. The mean score for the anxiety-associated questions in the HADS was 5.3 ± 3.6 with 24 participants (26.1%) having score ≥8. There was a weak inverse correlation between Schirmer’s test and CES-D scores. Elevated depression scores from the CES-D were significantly associated with visual blurring but not irritation, in dry eye patients with low TBUT.

Conclusions: In conclusion, specific types of dry eye symptoms, particularly those with increased frequency of visual blurring were associated with symptoms of depression. The optical aberrations induced by dry eye, associated with tear instability, may predispose to depressive tendency.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Sharon Yeo, Zhao Yang and Ryan Lee for their help in collecting and analyzing the data.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

This research is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under its clinician scientist award NMRC/CSA/045/2012 and administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council. This research is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council under its individual research grant NMRC/1206/2009 and center grant NMRC/CG/SERI/2010. The authors have no proprietary or commercial interests in any concept or product discussed in this article.

Supplementary material available online

Supplementary Tables 1 and 2

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