Hufnagel HJ, Lahmann C, Agostini H, Lange C, Pauleikhoff LJB. Psychometric assessment of patients with central serous chorioretinopathy and correlation with disease stage and progression: a case control study.
BMC Ophthalmol 2024;
24:92. [PMID:
38424605 PMCID:
PMC10902987 DOI:
10.1186/s12886-024-03356-2]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) has frequently been associated with increased stress levels as well as an increased prevalence of other psychiatric conditions. This study used standardized psychometric scores to assess stress, depression and anxiety levels of CSC patients and compared them to controls without retinal disease ("healthy") and with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).
METHODS
Monocentric, longitudinal case control study on consecutive CSC patients seen at a tertiary referral center. Controls without retinal disease were recruited from the oculoplastics clinic and those with BRVO from the medical retina clinic. Patients completed pseudonymized tests measuring stress levels (PHQ-stress), depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) at baseline and at 3- and 6-months follow-up. Higher scores indicated higher trait levels.
RESULTS
65 CSC patients, 19 healthy controls and 19 BRVO patients were included in this study. CSC patients showed significantly higher stress levels at baseline compared to controls (p = 0.009), but not compared to BRVO patients (p = 1.00). At 3- and 6-months follow-up, no significant difference between groups was observed anymore. Acute CSC patients showed higher scores than those with chronic CSC, which also subsided over time. Depression and anxiety scores did not differ between groups at any timepoint.
CONCLUSIONS
Patients with CSC do not show higher initial stress levels than patients with BRVO, while anxiety and depression levels did not differ from controls. Stress may thus rather represent a consequence of the onset of visual deterioration observed in CSC or other ocular diseases.
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