Objectively measured adherence to once-daily prostaglandin analog medication was good, and not influenced by treatment characteristics or patient factors including mild-to-moderate depression. The elevated social desirability suggests that self-reported adherence is not a reliable measure of adherence in glaucoma.

Objective To investigate whether anxiety plays a role in self-recruitment for non-population-based glaucoma screening. Methods In a non-population-based pre-publicised trial, self-recruited Caucasian participants were screened for glaucoma, and also completed the Trait Anxiety Inventory and Shortened Health Anxiety Inventory questionnaires. In pre-publicity for the trial, information on risk factors for glaucoma was given. Participants classified as possible glaucoma cases later underwent a detailed glaucoma investigation. Results Of the 120 total participants (72 females, 48 males), 12 were considered glaucoma suspects at the screening, although only three (2.5%) were ultimately diagnosed with glaucoma. Health anxiety showed significant correlation with trait anxiety (r ¼ 0.525, Po0.001). Trait anxiety was similar for both the genders; this score was significantly below the normal Hungarian population value in women (Po0.001) and at the normal population level in men (P ¼ 0.560). In contrast, health anxiety was significantly higher than for both the 'normal' and 'anxious' reference groups (Po0.001), although smaller than that for hypochondriacs (Po0.001). Participants with pre-existing ocular symptoms, and those who attended because of fear of blindness, had significantly higher trait-and health-anxiety scores (Po0.05 for all comparisons). Conclusion In this screening trial, the health anxiety of the self-recruited participants was significantly above normal, whereas the prevalence of glaucoma was within the usual range for a Caucasian population. This suggests that providing pre-publicity information on risk factors for glaucoma does not necessarily increase the prevalence of glaucoma among self-recruited participants in non-population-based screening, as some individuals may participate on account of elevated health anxiety, rather than because of higher potential risk for glaucoma.

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.

Our results suggest that even when general health information and awareness training sessions are regularly given to elderly members of a nonglaucoma patient organization, self-assessment of risk for glaucoma may remain poor among the members.

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