Distress, Depression and Coping in HLA B27 Antigen-associated Anterior Uveitis with Focus on Gender Differences

Saskia M Maca (1) , Andreas W Schiesser (2) , Anna Sobala (1) , Kathrin Gruber (3) , Carolin Prause (1) , Georg Pakesch (1) , Talin Barisani-Asenbauer (1)

1 Medizinische Universität Wien = Medical University of Vienna
2 Dept. of Psychology, Sigmund Freud University, Vienna
3 Hogrefe Verlag, Vienna, Austria

To evaluate depression, coping with disease and stress, and the subjective impression of distress and/or life events as triggers for recurrences in HLA-B27-associated anterior uveitis (B27-AU), with attention to gender-specific characteristics. 171 patients with a history of B27-AU responded to a postal survey performed between January 2006 and April 2008 using standardized psychological questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Freiburg Questionnaire on Coping with Illness (FQCI), and Stress Coping Inventory (SCI). Patients with B27-AU differed from healthy controls showing more depressive symptoms (BDI, 31.6%), applying characteristic disease coping as well as negative stress coping strategies. Female B27-AU patients tended to react with depression, males to use negative stress coping strategies. 57.9% of patients believed in psychological distress as a trigger for relapses, 34.5% stated specific life events. Together, this group of patients achieved higher depression scores and used more negative disease and stress coping styles than patients without perception of distress. B27-AU patients exhibited significant psychopathology concerning depression and disease coping. Distress and life events were subjectively suspected to be a trigger. By imparting knowledge to the patients upon probable development of depressive moods and the role of stress/life events as trigger for relapses, as well as offering behavior therapy to optimize coping may help to better deal with B27-AU.

Mots clés: Inflammation

Saskia M Maca, Andreas W Schiesser, Anna Sobala, Kathrin Gruber, Carolin Prause, et al.. Distress, Depression and Coping in HLA B27 Antigen-associated Anterior Uveitis with Focus on Gender Differences. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2010, 95 (5), pp.699. ⟨10.1136/bjo.2009.174839⟩. ⟨hal-00588347⟩