Depression and Medical Treatment Adherence in Mexican Patients With Glaucoma

Precis: The prevalence of depression in Mexican patients with glaucoma is higher than that reported in the general population. Depression prevalence and severity are directly associated with glaucoma severity and lower adherence to medical treatment. Purpose: To determine the prevalence of depression in patients with glaucoma and to describe the correlation between the severity of depression, glaucoma, and treatment adherence. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 111 patients with glaucoma who answered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II and the Morisky-Green questionnaire that evaluated their depression severity and medical treatment adherence. Low treatment adherence was defined as having a score of >2 on the Morisky-Green questionnaire. Analysis of variance, Fisher exact test, and linear regression models were used for statistical analyses. The main outcomes were prevalence of depression, prevalence of depression according to glaucoma damage, and the association between depression severity, medical treatment adherence, and glaucoma damage. Results: The average patient age was 67.6±13.8 years. The prevalence of depression was 50.4%. Analysis of variance revealed a statistically significant association between glaucoma severity of the “worse eye” and the BDI raw score. In the “better eye,” there was no statistically significant difference in mean BDI raw scores across glaucoma severity categories. There was a statistically significant association between the presence of depression and the level of treatment adherence after adjusting for age, sex, type of glaucoma, and the glaucoma severity in both eyes. The risk of low treatment adherence in patients with depression was 38 times that of patients with no depression. Conclusion: Glaucoma is associated with a prevalence of depression nearly 10 times higher than that in the general population. Glaucoma, depression severity, and lower adherence to medical treatment are associated.