Evaluation of Tear Osmolarity in Non-Sjögren and Sjögren Syndrome Dry Eye Patients With the TearLab System

Abstract

Tear hyperosmolarity is considered a key factor that leads to dry eye symptoms and to the progression of clinical signs. Osmolarity measurements with the TearLab system disclosed no ability to distinguish between healthy individuals and patients with dry eye. This suggests that the TearLab device should not be used alone but in combination with classical dry eye tests.

The Association Between Subjective and Objective Parameters for the Assessment of Dry-Eye Syndrome

“…For 313 example, some studies found a correlation between BUT and tear osmolarity, while 314 other studies did not observe this relationship. [33][34][35] Nevertheless, most studies report 315 no or weak correlations between the different clinical tests as it was observed in the 316 present study. 6,36 Again, one must not forget that DES is a heterogenous disease 317 and most studies did not differentiate between phenotypes.…”

Correlation of Dry Eye Workshop Dry Eye Severity Grading System With Tear Meniscus Measurement by Optical Coherence Tomography and Tear Osmolarity

“…Tear osmolarity measurement by TearLab Osmolarity System has been shown to be useful in the diagnosis of DED. Although some published studies have demonstrated that normal subjects may have higher tear osmolarity values than dry eye patients, 14,15 other studies' results showed that the tear hyperosmolarity can be interpreted as an indicator of DED with good sensitivity and specificity. 7,[16][17][18] In our study, we agreed about the importance of tear hyperosmolarity in DED and we also showed that tear osmolarity is significantly higher in severe DED group than in moderate DED group.…”

Tear Lacritin Levels by Age, Sex, and Time of Day in Healthy Adults

“…3 Moreover, tests such as Schirmer strips, ocular surface staining, and tear film breakup time are still not uniformly applied 4 (although standardization has improved with publication of the International Dry Eye Workshop report 5 ), and new devices to assess tear osmolarity show promise, 6 although not in isolation. 7 Development of an assay to help diagnose both early-onset and later dry eye, recognizing that there may be different etiologies, would be of great benefit.Dry eye syndrome and other associated conditions are believed to correlate with changes in specific protein content of the ocular surface. 8 Some small proteomic studies suggest that lacritin is one of only 4% to 5% of the tear proteome that is downregulated in dry eye or dry eye-related conditions.…”