Ophthalmologists' Perceptions of the Impact of Patient Mental Status on Clinical Decision-Making: A…

Cross-sectionalClinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.)· 2026

Ophthalmologists' Perceptions of the Impact of Patient Mental Status on Clinical Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Kenji Kashiwagi, Hiroshi Kasai, Yoshiko Fukuda … Naohiko Tanabe

OphthalmologyCross-sectionalQ1IF 2.6

Most ophthalmologists reported treatment-related changes in patients' mental status

Ophthalmologists' Perceptions of the Impact of Patient Mental Status on Clinical Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Kenji Kashiwagi … Naohiko Tanabe

Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026 · Q1 in Ophthalmology

Purpose

To investigate ophthalmologists' perceptions of how patients' mental status influences ophthalmic clinical practice and to identify ocular diseases perceived by ophthalmologists as having the greatest psychological impact.

Methods

This exploratory cross-sectional questionnaire survey included 61 ophthalmologists from a regional ophthalmologists' association in Japan (41 men and 20 women; mean clinical experience, 26 ± 14 years).

n = 41 men

Results

nearly all eye doctors surveyed had seen treatments change patients' mental state

OR 1.45 (95% CI 1.05 to 2.01)

null 1

1.05

2.01

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

The mean mental health attention score was 7.0 ± 1.8 (range, 2-10).

Thirty-two physicians (52.5%) reported that insufficient attention to patient mental health had affected clinical care.

More results

Higher mental health attention scores were independently associated with reporting perceived clinical impact (odds ratio, 1.45 per 1-point increase; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-2.01; p = 0.02).

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Ophthalmologists in this sample perceived patient mental status as relevant to clinical practice, particularly in chronic progressive diseases such as glaucoma and inherited retinal disorders.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Because this survey assessed physician perceptions rather than patient-reported mental health or objective clinical outcomes, future studies incorporating validated mental health instruments, patient-reported outcomes, and objective clinical endpoints are needed.

Ophthalmologists' Perceptions of the Impact of Patient Mental Status on Clinical Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Ophthalmologists' Perceptions of the Impact of Patient Mental Status on Clinical Decision-Making: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Related papers