Compliance with eye care in glaucoma patients with comorbid depression

Comorbid depression may play an important role in non-compliance with medical treatment among patients with chronic illnesses. Glaucoma is a potentially blinding chronic disease requiring life-long commitment to medical therapy. Failure to adhere to anti-glaucoma treatment may lead to disease progre...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Israel Medical Association journal 2011-12, Vol.13 (12), p.730-734
Main Authors: Weiss, Guy A, Goldich, Yakov, Bartov, Elisha, Burgansky-Eliash, Zvia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use
Chronic Disease
Comorbidity
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - physiopathology
Disease Progression
Female
Glaucoma - diagnosis
Glaucoma - drug therapy
Glaucoma - epidemiology
Glaucoma - psychology
Humans
Instillation, Drug
Intraocular Pressure - drug effects
Israel - epidemiology
Long-Term Care
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Compliance - psychology
Patient Compliance - statistics & numerical data
Prevalence
Surveys and Questionnaires
Vision Tests
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Comorbid depression may play an important role in non-compliance with medical treatment among patients with chronic illnesses. Glaucoma is a potentially blinding chronic disease requiring life-long commitment to medical therapy. Failure to adhere to anti-glaucoma treatment may lead to disease progression and visual loss. To assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms in glaucoma patients and the association between these symptoms and non-compliance with anti-glaucoma therapy. In this cross-sectional observational study, compliance with pharmacotherapy was assessed with the Morisky Medication Adherence questionnaire (eight items). Screening for depression was performed by means of the CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale). The association between depression and compliance rates was analyzed. The study group comprised 76 glaucoma patients; 19.7% of the subjects were classified as non-compliant (Morisky cutoff 10) and 21.1% suffered from depression (CES-D cutoff > or = 16). We found a similar level of non-compliance when comparing depressed with non-depressed glaucoma patients. However, a correlation was observed between the level of depression and the level of non-compliance (P = 0.04). Our study revealed a similar rate of depression in glaucoma patients and the general israeli population. The presence of depression was not associated with the presence of non-compliance, yet the level of depression was associated with the level of non-compliance.
ISSN:1565-1088