Objective: To study the prevalence of depression in patients with pterygium and factors that are related to depression and pterygium.

Materials and Methods: The study was accomplished by descriptive study which selected studied population from patients who had pterygium at Thammasat Univeristy Hospital. Demographic characteristics and pterygium datas collected from the patients. Moreover, information regarding severity of dry eye disease, Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), and scores from the 9Q-9 questions about the depression were also collected. The datas were stored as a unit of frequency was used to analyze the results. ANOVA, Simple linear regression and Pearson correlation were used for this purposes.

Results: Data collection of 328 samples involved; 314 patients with primary pterygium (95.7 percent) and 14 patients (4.3 percent) with recurrent pterygium. The score for Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), of newly diagnosed cases (>13) found in 259 patients (79.0 percent). Depression prevalence in all pterygium samples was 22.9 percent. Demographic features of the population were not statistically significant, but in pterygium size more than or equal to 2.7 mm (p = 0.018) and time spent on using digital devices more than or equal to 2 hours per day (p = 0.023) were statistically significant affected to severity of depression.

Conclusion: The prevalence of depression was found in all sample groups of pterygium at the prevalent level of 22.9 percent. Demographic features did not have any statistically significant, but in pterygium size and time spent on using digital devices were statistically significant affected to severity of depression.

Keywords: Prevalence, Associated factors, Depression, Pterygium