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  • Longitudinal Study of Link Between Visual Impairment and Depression

    By Lynda Seminara
    Selected by Prem S. Subramanian, MD, PhD
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    Journal Highlights

    British Journal of Ophthalmology
    Published online May 12, 2022

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    Studies of the relationship between depression and visual impairment (VI) have not yielded consistent findings. In a nine-year nationwide study conduct­ed in South Korea, Seong et al. found that visually impaired patients had a higher than normal risk of depression both before and after the documenta­tion of VI.

    The researchers included 131,434 adults from the Korean National Health Information Database with VI identified by objective VA testing between 2005 and 2013. Using 1:1 propensity score matching, randomly selected patients matched by age, sex, residential area, and household income (control group) were compared with patients known to have VI (patient group). Patients’ data were collected from at least three years before being registered in the national database as visually impaired through a minimum of five years thereafter. Kore­an Standard Classification of Diseases codes (F32 and F33) and insurance claims were used to identify cases of depression. The risk of depression was assessed using a conditional logistic regression model.

    Among the study population, de­pression was experienced by 9,011 con­trol participants and 16,451 members of the patient group. In the years lead­ing to documentation of VI, the risk of depression gradually increased. The odds ratio (OR) of depression occur­ring three years prior to VI was 1.186, which increased to 1.925 by the time of VI documentation. In the subse­quent five years, the risk of depression decreased slowly. By year 5, the OR was 1.128. Despite the decreasing trend, the risk of depression remained significant in the patient cohort throughout the five years. The risk of depression was highest for men, patients with severe VI, and younger individuals (18-29 years of age), with reduced self-esteem from VI being suggested as a driver of depression, particularly in the young­er patients. The authors recommend earlier screening and intervention in patients at high risk.

    The original article can be found here.