Adults with strabismus up to 3 times more likely to have mental health conditions
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Adults with strabismus had higher prevalences of anxiety, depression, substance use and addiction and schizophrenia.
- Younger age and low income were among factors associated with higher odds of these conditions.
Adults with strabismus were more likely to have mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression and substance use and addiction, compared with those without strabismus, according to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
“Approximately 2% to 3% of individuals in the U.S. have strabismus, a condition that may negatively affect psychosocial well-being and predispose individuals to mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression,” Kimberly Jin, BS, a student at UMass Chan Medical School, and colleagues wrote. “Limited research exists on the association between strabismus and mental health in diverse populations, leaving gaps in our understanding of the effect of strabismus across sociodemographic backgrounds.”
In a cross-sectional study, researchers used data from NIH’s All of Us Research Program to investigate the association between strabismus and mental health among a diverse cohort of 3,646 adults (55% women; median age, 67 years) with strabismus and 3,646 controls, who were matched on age, gender, race and ethnicity, income, educational level and insurance status.
The researchers reported that individuals with strabismus had higher prevalence of anxiety compared with those without strabismus (32% vs. 14%), as well as depression (33% vs. 14%), substance use and addiction (3% vs. 1%), bipolar disorder (7% vs. 3%) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (3% vs. 1%), the differences of which reached statistical significance (P < .001).
Among those with strabismus, younger age was associated with greater odds of mental health conditions (OR = 1.11 per 10-year decrease), as were female gender (OR = 1.62), Black or African American race and ethnicity (OR = 1.22), low income (OR = 3.06) and high school education or less (OR = 1.58).
Researchers noted that the control group had similar associations for gender, income and education level, but to a lesser extent.
After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, individuals with strabismus still had higher odds of anxiety (OR = 2.79), depression (OR = 2.95), substance use and addiction (OR = 2.32), bipolar disorder (OR = 2.62) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (OR = 2.92) vs. those without strabismus.
“Previous studies among adults with strabismus have found that corrective surgery improved depression and anxiety questionnaire scores,” Jin and colleagues wrote. “Further investigation into the risk factors for poor mental health among adults with strabismus across sociodemographic backgrounds may offer novel opportunities for interventions to improve mental well-being in this population.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts