Health anxiety in a non-population-based, pre-publicised glaucoma screening exercise

Abstract

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.

Depression, Anxiety, and Disturbed Sleep in Glaucoma

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Digital Image Analysis of the Angle and Optic Nerve: A Simple, Fast, and Low-Cost Method for Glaucoma Assessment

“…Narrowing of the target population is highly desired. Prepublicizing the risk factors for glaucoma does not seem to increase the number of patients successfully screened, for in self-recruited screening, overall health anxiety may surpass the actual rate of risk factors present [36]. Several studies suggest that there is a possible relationship between diabetes and POAG, the condition occurring almost twice as often in diabetics than in nondiabetics [37,38].…”

Pupillometric recordings to detect glaucoma

“…Early detection and treatment are essential to prevent vision loss due to glaucoma, but often the early symptoms are ignored, and most people do not go for their regular eye examinations. It has been found that 50% of glaucoma cases go undetected in the early stages (Holló et al 2010, Lagrèze 2010). Thus, an easy and inexpensive test that can be performed routinely and used for population screening could help detect the disease in the early stages and prevent millions of people from suffering from vision loss.…”