Depressive Symptoms and Quality of Life in Age-related Macular Degeneration Based on Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES)

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been recognized as one of the leading causes of visual loss in elderly people in Western countries [1,2]. The number of elderly people is increasing substantially in Asian countries, and the prevalence of AMD is also increasing in this part of the world [3,4]. Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using data obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey V-2 (KNHANES V-2) conducted in 2011. Methods: This was a population-based, cross-sectional study that selected 329 participants from the fifth KN-HANES (2011) who were diagnosed with AMD by an ophthalmologist based on fundus photography. The prevalence of depressive symptoms and the health-related QOL (using EuroQol indices) in this cohort were also estimated. Factors associated with depressive symptoms, including socioeconomic status, QOL indices, and associated chronic diseases, were investigated using multivariate regression models. Results: Depressive symptoms were observed more frequently in AMD patients than in non-AMD controls (p = 0.013). Among the total 329 AMD participants, 65 (19.8%) had depressive symptoms. There were 16 males (24.6%) and 49 females (75.4%). Upon multivariate analysis, significant factors found to be associated with de-pressive symptoms were female gender (odds ratio [OR], 2.082; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001 to 4.330), being in the "dependent" group for activities of daily living (OR, 4.638; 95% CI, 2.061 to 10.435), and having "some problems" in the "anxiety-depression" dimension of the EQ-5D (OR, 7.704; 95% CI, 1.890 to 31.408). Conclusions: Female gender and being dependent on others for activities of daily living increased the association of depressive symptoms in this cohort of AMD participants. Screening for depressive symptoms in East Asian AMD patients with these characteristics should be an important component of their care.