Prevalence and Risk Factors of Dry Eye Syndrome in a United States Veterans Affairs Population

Abstract

PURPOSE To evaluate the prevalence of dry eye syndrome (DES) and its associated risk factors in a US Veterans Affairs population receiving ocular care services. DESIGN Retrospective study. METHODS SETTINGS Patients were seen in the Miami and Broward Veterans Affairs eye clinics between 2005 and 2010. PATIENTS POPULATION Patients were divided into cases and controls with regard to their dry eye status (cases = ICD9 code for DES plus dry eye therapy; controls = patients without ICD9 code plus no therapy). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The prevalence of DES and its associated risk factors. RESULTS A total of 16 862 patients were identified as either a dry eye case (n = 2056) or control (n = 14 806). Overall, 12% of male and 22% of female patients had a diagnosis of DES, with female gender imparting a 2.40 increased risk (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.04–2.81) over male gender. Several medical conditions were found to increase DES risk including post-traumatic stress disorder (odds ratio [OR] 1.97, 95% CI 1.75–2.23), depression (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.73–2.10), thyroid disease (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.46–2.26), and sleep apnea (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.97–2.46) (all analyses adjusted for gender and age). The use of several systemic medications, including anti-depressant medications (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.79–2.17), anti-anxiety medication (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.58–1.91), and anti–benign prostatic hyperplasia medications (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.51–1.86), was likewise associated with an increased risk of DES. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of DES was found to be high in both men and women in our eye care population. This is the first study to demonstrate that in a veteran population, several diagnoses were significantly associated with DES, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Dry Eye Disease Is Associated with Deterioration of Mental Health in Male Japanese University Staff

“…This agrees with previous studies in which DED had a negative effect on mental health (Mertzanis et al 2005;Galor et al 2011;Kim et al 2011;Le et al 2012;Li et al 2012;Wang et al 2012;Sakane et al 2013). The study on a non-clinic-based population in China showed lower QOL for mental health in subjects with DED (Le et al 2012).…”

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has ever examined the relationship between DED and QOL in non-clinic-based subjects in Japan, whereas DED has been reported to be related to poor QOL and depression in a general population in other countries (Galor et al 2011;Le et al 2012;Wang et al 2012). The major purpose of the present study is, therefore, clarify the relationship between DED and QOL in non-clinic-based Japanese subjects.…”

“…DED is one of the most common ocular surface diseases worldwide. The prevalence of DED has been reported to be from ~4.4% to as high as 50% among middle-aged and elderly people (Schein et al 1997;McCarty et al 1998;Nichols et al 2002;Schaumberg et al 2003;Moss et al 2008;Guo et al 2010;Galor et al 2011). DED causes constant irritation, ocular discomfort, fatigue, and visual disturbance, which interfere with daily activities (Miljanovic et al 2007), disturbing one's ability to perform various tasks that require sustained visual concentration.…”

Unhealthy Mental States Are Positively Associated with Subjective Pain or Fatigue in Specific Body Sites among High School Teachers in Japan

“…Araki et al reported a significantly positive relationship between eye discomfort and depression in only females [26]. Another study has been shown that dry eye was observed almost twice as often in individuals with mental illness, such as depression and PTSD, as those without [34]. On the other hand, Zhaoji et al have described that there was no relationship between eye strain and the GHQ-12 score in females who use VDT [22].…”

Clinical and Molecular Inflammatory Response in Sjögren Syndrome–Associated Dry Eye Patients Under Desiccating Stress

“…4 It is also one of the main reasons for seeking eye care among older people because its overall risk raises by 1.06 for each increased decade. 5 Sjögren syndrome (SS) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the exocrine glands and mucosal epithelia, resulting in dry eye as well as dry mouth. 6 This condition causes one of the most severe types of dry eye disease; the prevalence of its primary type varies greatly, from 0.09% to 2.7% depending on the diagnostic criteria used.…”