A Survey on the Level of Depression in Cataract PatientsHospitalized in Urmia

摘要

A cataract is a common cause of disability in the elderlies and is the cause of most cases of blindness worldwide. Thanks to the nature of the cataract causing disability in the visual condition, depressive disorders, also are amongst the most common disabilities associated with it. Due to the prevalence of the disease in the whole world and its consequences, this study aims to investigate the level of depression in the cataract patients hospitalized in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia, Iran. This study was a cross-sectional descriptive analytic study. A sample of 94 patients was selected through simple random sampling. The data was collected using the standard Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the questionnaire including participants? demographic information. In this study, the validity and reliability of the standard Geriatric Depression Scale were examined in terms of face validity, criterion validity and factor analysis and reliability (Cronbach?s alpha, split-half and test-retest). Moreover, the analysis of data was carried out using SPSS Software Version 16 and through the use of absolute and relative frequency distribution tables, mean and standard deviation. Chi-square tests and t-test were also used for statistical analysis. In the current study, among 94 patients with cataract 52 patients (55.3%) were men and 42 patients (44.7%) were women. The mean age of the participants was 70.25±7.34 year and the mean of cataract disease duration of them was 1.24±0.73 year. Among the cataract patients, 51 patients (54.3%) were lack of depression, 22 patients (23.4%) had mild depression, 13 patients (13.8%) had moderate depression and 8 patients (8.5%) had severe depression. Of the patients with cataract, 7 patients (7.4%) were single, 57 patients (60.6%) were married and 30 patients (31.9%) were widowed spouses. Furthermore, only 32 patients (34%) had underlying diseases such as diabetes and 62 patients (66%) were urban dwellers. It was determined the level of depression had a significant relationship with age, the frequency of being hospitalized, the marital status having a disease, daily exercises, diet and the support of family. And it was concluded there was no significant relationship between the level of depression and the following variables: the disease duration, gender and the place of residence. Besides, taking antidepressant medication variable had a significant relationship with the level of depression, but the patients? perspective of the economic situation variable had not any significant relationship with the level of depression. The high level of depression in patients with cataract may be due to special circumstances of their disease, stressful environment, their specific hospitalization and the depression before the treatment. Performing interventional actions is recommended in order to reduce depression in these patients.