Ocular symptom burden showed small bivariate correlations with sleep quality and psychological distress in primary glaucoma patients, but covariate-adjusted associations were imprecise and not statistically significant.
Approximately half of the primary glaucoma patients in this study screened positive for poor sleep quality.
A substantial minority of primary glaucoma patients showed mild-to-severe psychological distress.
Ocular symptom burden (OSB) had small but statistically significant bivariate correlations with both sleep quality and psychological distress.
The ocular-surface/irritation and pain symptom domain correlated with sleep quality, whereas visual-function/glare domains did not.
After adjusting for covariates, OSB severity was not independently associated with poor sleep quality or psychological distress.
The authors suggest that brief screening for sleep quality and psychological distress may be considered in glaucoma care.
This research examined whether the everyday eye symptoms experienced by glaucoma patients — such as eye irritation, pain, and visual disturbances — are linked to sleep problems and psychological distress. The study surveyed 208 adults with primary glaucoma at a single center, measuring their symptom burden, sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and psychological distress using the Kessler-10 scale. Key findings showed that about half of all patients had poor sleep quality, and roughly 1 in 6 had mild-to-severe psychological distress, highlighting that these problems are common in this population. When looking at raw relationships, greater ocular symptom burden was modestly linked to worse sleep and higher psychological distress, with a somewhat stronger link to psychological distress. Notably, it was the pain and eye-surface irritation symptoms — not visual problems like glare — that were associated with sleep disturbance. However, once the researchers accounted for factors like age, sex, glaucoma type, and disease severity, the relationship between symptom burden and either sleep quality or psychological distress was no longer statistically significant, meaning symptom burden alone did not independently explain these outcomes. This research suggests that sleep problems and emotional distress are prevalent among glaucoma patients and may warrant routine screening in eye care settings. However, the connection between eye symptoms specifically and these outcomes appears to be more complex than a simple direct relationship, and other patient factors likely play important roles. Because this was a single-center cross-sectional study (a snapshot in time), it cannot establish whether eye symptoms cause poor sleep or distress, and future longitudinal research would be needed to better understand these relationships.
Wang W, Wang Y. (2026). Association of ocular symptom burden with sleep quality and psychological distress in patients with primary glaucoma: A cross-sectional study.. Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000048088