Sociodemographic characteristics of glaucoma patients and quality of life in glaucoma

Aim: To evaluate the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients followed in the Glaucoma Unit of our clinic, their quality of life with the modified Glau-QOL-17 Quality of Life questionnaire, clinical data, and their relationship with each other. Materials and Methods: 126 patients aged 18 years and over, excluding secondary glaucoma and diagnosed with glaucoma for at least one year, who came for control examination between March and December 2020, were included in the study. The clinical and sociodemographic data of the patients at their last examination were noted and their effects on the quality of life were evaluated. The Modified Glau-QOL-17 Quality of Life questionnaire was applied to the patients by adding questions about the difficulties they may experience with glaucoma. The patients were divided into 6 groups according to the visual field Mean Deviation (MD) value. According to the MD value of the patients, their eyes were defined as 'better eye' with a good MD value and 'worse eye' with a worse MD value. Results: The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 63.60±13.04 years. 49.2% of the cases were women, 37.3% were primary school graduates, and 67.5% were married. 93.7% of the patients were using topical medication and the most common local side effect (75%) was stinging. It was observed that the incidence of local side effects increased as the dropper bottle used increased (p=0.019; p<0.05); no statistically significant difference was observed in systemic side effects (p>0.05). While young people instilled their own drops more frequently (p=0.031; p<0.05), they remembered their drops by name. (p=0.009; p<0.01). After the diagnosis of glaucoma, 25% of the patients had an increase in the frequency of impact and fall. When the patient's clinical data were evaluated, a stronger correlation was found between BCVA and MD, and between the c/d ratio and RNFL. While the "Daily Life" sub-dimension score (87.17±18.68) was the highest in the scale, it was the lowest in the "Anxiety" sub-dimension (74.21±23.25). Advanced age (p<0.01), being married (p<0.05), being retired (p<0.05), having high best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) for the worse eye (p=0.001), having a good value of worse eye MD, being in the first group (p=0.001) was associated with high scores, while being female (p=0.010) a high worse eye c/d ratio (p=0.020), primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) diagnosis (P=0.011), insomnia or migraine (p=0.013, p=0.032), and using 3 bottles of medication daily (p=0.029) were found to be associated with low quality of life scores. Conclusion: Glaucoma can affect the quality of life differently according to the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients, the stage of glaucoma, the number of drugs used and their side effects. As in all areas of medicine, we believe that a holistic approach to glaucoma patients and personalized treatment planning will be beneficial in the success of the treatment and the compliance of the patients with the treatment.