Ren ZF, Li JL. Illness uncertainty, anxiety, and depression in primary glaucoma and associated influencing factors. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(11): 106953 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.106953]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhi-Feng Ren, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Ophthalmology, Shanxi Province Fenyang Hospital, No. 186 Shengli Road, Fenyang 032200, Shanxi Province, China. sxfyrzf@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
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Retrospective Study
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Nov 19, 2025 (publication date) through Nov 23, 2025
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Publication Name
World Journal of Psychiatry
ISSN
2220-3206
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Ren ZF, Li JL. Illness uncertainty, anxiety, and depression in primary glaucoma and associated influencing factors. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(11): 106953 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.106953]
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2025; 15(11): 106953 Published online Nov 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.106953
Illness uncertainty, anxiety, and depression in primary glaucoma and associated influencing factors
Zhi-Feng Ren, Jian-Lan Li
Zhi-Feng Ren, Jian-Lan Li, Department of Ophthalmology, Shanxi Province Fenyang Hospital, Fenyang 032200, Shanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Ren ZF designed the research, wrote the first manuscript, and conducted the analysis and provided guidance for the research; Ren ZF and Li JL contributed to conceiving the research and analyzing data. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of Shanxi Province Fenyang Hospital.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhi-Feng Ren, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Ophthalmology, Shanxi Province Fenyang Hospital, No. 186 Shengli Road, Fenyang 032200, Shanxi Province, China. sxfyrzf@163.com
Received: June 10, 2025 Revised: July 16, 2025 Accepted: August 22, 2025 Published online: November 19, 2025 Processing time: 146 Days and 19.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Glaucoma, a condition frequently linked to severe depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances, affects treatment adherence while potentially compromising effectiveness.
AIM
To explore illness uncertainty (IU), anxiety, and depressive symptoms in primary glaucoma and to discuss underlying triggers.
METHODS
We recruited 120 primary glaucoma cases between January 2022 and November 2023. The Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale (MUIS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) [include HADS-anxiety subscale (HADS-A) and HADS-depression subscale (HADS-D)] subscales, were used to assess IU and emotional distress (anxiety/depression), respectively. The MUIS-HADS subscale interrelationships were determined by Pearson correlation. IU-associated determinants were identified using univariate and binary logistic regression analyses.
RESULTS
The cohort showed a mean MUIS score of 79.73 ± 8.97, corresponding to a moderately high IU level. The HADS-A and HADS-D scores averaged 6.57 ± 3.89 and 7.08 ± 5.05 points, respectively, with 15.00% of participants showing anxiety symptoms and 24.17% exhibiting depressive signs. Significant positive connections were observed between MUIS and both HADS-A (r = 0.359, P < 0.001) and HADS-D (r = 0.426, P < 0.001). Univariate analysis revealed that disease duration, insomnia, monthly household income per capita, and the presence of comorbid chronic conditions were significantly associated with anxiety or depression. Multivariate analysis identified insomnia as a risk factor and higher monthly household income as a protective factor.
CONCLUSION
Patients with primary glaucoma experience moderate IU levels, generally low anxiety, and mild depression. Specifically, the anxiety and depression risks were 15.00% and 24.17%, respectively. A significant positive correlation existed between IU and anxiety/depression in these patients. Additionally, insomnia or lower monthly household income elevated anxiety/depression risks, enabling reliable anxiety/depression risk categorization among patients.
Core Tip: Patients with primary glaucoma experience moderate levels of illness uncertainty, overall minimal anxiety, yet mild-level depression. Specifically, the anxiety and depression risks were 15.00% and 24.17%, respectively. A significant positive correlation exists between illness uncertainty and both anxiety and depression in patients with primary glaucoma. Additionally, patients with insomnia or lower monthly household income were at a higher risk of developing anxiety and depression.
