Program curbs depression due to vision loss

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Depressed older adults with advanced vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may benefit from an AMD self-management program, results of a study suggest.

The AMD self-management program consists of cognitive and behavioral components and includes health education and enhancement of problem-solving skills.

Among 32 depressed elderly patients with advanced vision loss, researchers noted a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms at 6-month follow-up in 12 individuals randomized to the self-management program compared to the 20 controls.

Participants in the self-management group had a mean reduction of 2.92 points on the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), which is above the 2-point change threshold considered clinically meaningful. Overall, 10 subjects (83 percent) in the self-management group and 8 (40 percent) in the control group had a reduction in depressive symptoms of at least 2 points.

Dr. Stuart I. Brown, of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues report their study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

"If these findings are confirmed in larger prospective studies, they may add support to the use of an AMD self-management program as an intervention to improve the quality of life for a population of patients with advanced AMD with a high prevalence and incidence of depression and with no treatment options to restore their vision," Dr. Brown's team concludes.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society October 2006.