Common psychiatric disorders in glaucoma patients as seen at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria

Fifty consenting patients attending glaucoma clinic were recruited over a six-month period and screened for general psychiatric morbidity, anxiety and depression using the SRQ-20 and HAD scales respectively. The male:female ratio of the group was 2.1:1 with a mean age of 57.3 years. The elderly population constituted 52% of the group. Twenty two per cent of the patients had a probable co-morbid psychiatric disorder with the prevalence rates of 10% and 6% respectively for anxiety and depression. All the depressed patients were males. The glaucoma patients with co-morbid psychiatric disorder had significantly higher scores on all psychometric test instruments than those without co-morbidity. Lack of formal education was the only socio-demographic variable that was significantly associated with psychiatric co-morbidity. Patients aged 50 years or above scored significantly higher than those aged less than 50 years on the depression sub-scale of the HADS, while the reverse was true for the anxiety sub-scale. The implications of these findings in the management of glaucoma patients are discussed. The prevalence and pattern of distribution of psychiatric disorders found among glaucoma patients in this study did not differ from that of the normal population.