The following is a summary of “Association of symptomatic vitreous floaters with depression and anxiety,” published in the May 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Gouliopoulos et al.

Patients with symptomatic vitreous floaters often experience anxiety and depression.

Researchers conducted a prospective study assessing anxiety and depression levels in patients with floaters and examined correlations with symptom duration, improvement, vitreous detachment, and discomfort severity.

They recruited 90 patients with floaters and 57 healthy controls. Each participant underwent an eye exam, including funduscopy and optical coherence tomography scans. Clinical and demographic data were collected. All completed three depression and anxiety questionnaires: the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Zung Depression Inventory-Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung SDS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).   

The results showed no significant differences in clinical and demographic data among the groups (P>0.05). Patients with floaters had higher PHQ-9, Zung SDS, HADS Anxiety, and HADS Depression scores (P<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, PHQ-9 (P=0.041), Zung SDS (P=0.003), and HADS Anxiety (P=0.036) remained higher. Scores were notably elevated in patients with floaters for less than 4 weeks (P<0.05). Anxiety and depression correlated with symptom duration, intensity, discomfort, and posterior vitreous detachment stage. 

Investigators concluded that vitreous floaters contribute to increased depression and anxiety levels. The three questionnaires utilized to establish this association marked a novel contribution to the literature on this topic.

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10792-024-03006-y