Original articleFear of Blindness in the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study: Patterns and Correlates over Time
Section snippets
Sample and Procedures
A total of 607 patients were enrolled in the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) between October, 1993, and April, 1997. All participants were newly diagnosed, previously untreated, phakic, open-angle glaucoma patients from 14 clinical centers across the United States. Interested readers are referred to Musch et al15 for detailed information about the trial’s protocol. Eligible participants were between 25 and 75 years of age and agreed to be followed up for a minimum of 5
Results
The mean age of the participants at baseline was 57.5 years (range, 29–75 years); 55% were male and 38% were black. Approximately half of the participants had some college education, and 21% had less than a high school education. In terms of total family annual income, 16% reported less than $10,000 and 29% reported more than $50,000. Approximately 60% were married, 49% were employed, and 42% reported some family history of glaucoma. More than 90% of participants had primary open-angle
Discussion
The cross-sectional findings from this study show that the diagnosis of glaucoma seems to engender an immediate response in many patients about the fear of becoming blind. By 12 months, the percentage of respondents who reported moderate or a lot of worry dropped from 34% (at baseline) to less than 15%. Nonetheless, 12% of patients expressed some level of fear, and an additional 11% expressed moderate or a lot of fear 5 years after the diagnosis. When examining individual patients’ fear of
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Supported by the National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland (grant nos. EY015700, EY09148), and Allergan, Inc., Irvine, California.