LAUSR

Background For clinical practice it is important to evaluate and compare anxiety, depression and quality of life of glaucoma patients with painless one-eye blindness and a normal fellow eye to unaffected age-matched individuals from a similar environment. Methods Twenty-eight stable glaucoma patients (age, mean ± SD: 69.0 ± 13.3 years) with one normal and one painless blind eye, and 26 controls (age: 67.0 ± 14.0 years) completed the standard Hungarian adaptations of the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Spielberger-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Hopelessness Scale, and Quality of Life Questionnaire SF-36 with the assistance of trained psychologist interviewers within 3 months after a detailed ophthalmological examination. Results The groups did not differ in age, gender distribution, number of children, grandchildren and people in their household ( p  ≥ 0.235). The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the diseased eye was minimal (median: 0.00), while BCVA of their better eye (median: 1.0) did not differ from that of the control group ( p  ≥ 0.694). Compared to the control group, the patients’ scores were significantly higher for depression ( p  ≤ 0.01), cognitive and psychophysiological symptoms of anxiety ( p  ≤ 0.05) and hopelessness ( p  ≤ 0.013), and lower (worse) for physical function, vitality, general health and bodily pain ( p  ≤ 0.045). No difference was found between the groups for mental health, physical role functioning, emotional role functioning and social role functioning ( p  ≥ 0.117). Conclusion Our results show that patients with glaucoma-related one-eye blindness may require regular psychological support even when the visual performance of the fellow eye is fully maintained on the long run, and the patients’ everyday functioning is normal.