Hospital anxiety and depression scale assessment of 100 patients before and after using low vision care: A prospective study in a tertiary eye-care setting.

PURPOSE

Assessment of anxiety and depression in patients attending low vision care (LVC) using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

METHODS

In this prospective, observational study, 100 patients with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) worse than 6/18 in the better eye or limitation of field of vision to <10° from center of fixation were assessed on the depression and anxiety subscales of HADS questionnaire before and after LVC. HADS is a 14-item scale with seven items each for anxiety and depression subscales. Scoring for each item ranges from zero to three. A subscale score >8 denotes anxiety or depression.

RESULTS

Mean age at presentation was 38.2 years. Mean duration of symptoms was 9.6 years. Underlying etiology of visual impairment included retinal dystrophy/degeneration (n = 35), disorders of the optic nerve (n = 17), glaucoma (n = 10), diabetic retinopathy (n = 9), age-related macular degeneration (n = 5), uncorrected refractive errors (n = 5), and miscellaneous diseases (n = 19). Mean presenting BCVA in the better eye was 0.83 (±0.64) which improved significantly to 0.78 (±0.63) after LVC (P < 0.001). The HADS-Depression subscale score was comparable for severity of visual impairment for both distance (P = 0.57) and near vision (P = 0.61). Similarly, HADS-Anxiety scores were also comparable for severity of distance (P = 0.34) and near-visual impairment (NVI; P = 0.50). At baseline, mean HADS-Depression and HADS-Anxiety scores were 8.4 (±3.7) and 9.6 (±4.3) points, which improved significantly to 6.0 (±3.4) and 6.7 (±3.7), respectively, after low-vision correction (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Low vision correction can significantly improve anxiety and depression indicators in visually impaired patients.