Impact of Meditation on Improving Quality of Life Among Glaucoma Patients: An Electronic Pilot Feasibility Study

Glaucoma is a chronic disease that causes loss of vision and potentially blindness as a result of optic nerve damage due to increased intraocular pressure. Currently, it is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide1. In 2020, 4.1 million and 3.6 million adults over the age of 50 suffered from mild to severe visual impairment and blindness respectively induced by glaucoma1. However, these predictions are likely underestimated since glaucoma can remain asymptomatic until later stages in disease progression2.

There is a convincing body of evidence suggesting that there is a linear relationship between visual impairment and decreased quality of life (QOL) among glaucoma patients3. Furthermore, evidence from The National Health and Aging Trends Study suggests that this relationship may be bidirectional where older adults with visual impairment are more likely to suffer from mental illness and older adults with mental illness are more likely to suffer from visual impairment4. Mindfulness-based meditation is a promising non-pharmacological treatment that has been shown to reduce intraocular pressure and improve QOL in patients with glaucoma5.

A feasibility study will be conducted using a mixed-method design to assess the feasibility of delivering a meditation intervention online to enhance the QOL and mental health of glaucoma patients. Participants will be recruited and randomized in blocks of 10 and will undergo 1:1 randomization to the intervention arm or usual care arm. The purpose of this block randomization technique is to minimize the wait time between patient recruitment and study initiation. Participants in each arm will complete online questionnaires at patient recruitment, weeks 1, 3, 6, and 12 to measure self-reported health, depression symptoms, anxiety, and sleep quality using REDCap, an electronic data capturing system provided by Lawson Health Research Institute (LHRI).