Prevalence of Symptomatic Dry Eye Disease in an Urban Chinese Community: A Cross-sectional Population-based Study

Abstract

Purpose (max 100 words): To evaluate the prevalence and severity of dry eye syndrome in a population-based sample in Hong Kong and to assess the correlation between findings from the Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire and the Symptom Assessment iN Dry Eye questionnaire with tear meniscus height. Setting/Venue (The name of the hospital or the university where the research took place.) (max 50 words): This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a community-based health promotion program in Hong Kong. Methods (max 100 words): Ocular symptoms were evaluated via the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and the Symptom Assessment iN Dry Eye (SANDE). We adopted the Asia Dry Eye Society’s definition of DES; having an OSDI ≥ 13. Dry eye assessment was done with the Oculus Keratograph 5M to evaluate tear meniscus height (TMH). Results were expressed as mean and standard deviation. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistics software. Results (max 100 words): In total, 276 subjects underwent screening over the two-day event. The mean age was 58.9 years (±18.4). 19.9% (n = 55) of subjects were men. Regarding dry eye symptom score, mean OSDI was 9.21 (±7.89). Average TMH was 0.255 mm (±0.09). In this study, 27.5% of subjects had symptomatic dry eye disease, using OSDI score. Female gender was significantly associated with higher OSDI scores. Age (<60 vs ≥ 60), however, was not shown to be a significant risk factor for higher OSDI score. There was no significant correlation between OSDI score, SANDE score and tear meniscus height in our population. Conclusions (max 100 words): Symptomatic dry eye disease is prevalent in the urban Chinese community, which is significantly more severe in females. The OSDI was found to be a convenient instrument in evaluating symptoms of dry eye syndrome in this locality, however, its use as a sole instrument to diagnose dry eye fails to exclude patients with probably neuropathic pain without objective dry eye signs. Finally, there appears to be difficulty in the use of the SANDE questionnaire for dry eye assessment in our population.