Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the prevalence of dry eye disease in a Norwegian-Danish cohort of congenital aniridia.
Methods :
A comprehensive dry eye examination was performed, including measurements of tear meniscus height, tear film osmolarity, interblink interval, tear film break up-time (TFBUT), fluorescein vital staining, Schirmer`s test, aesthesiometry, meibum quality and expressibility, and meibography. Data were presented as mean and standard deviation. The correlation coefficients were calculated using Pearson's correlation analysis. Correlations were considered significant for p < 0.05.
Results :
Thirty-three patients with congenital aniridia were included, 21 women and 12 men. Median age was 32 (9 - 72) years. Tear meniscus height was 0.27 (+/-0.09) mm and 0.29 (+/-0.16) mm in the right eyes (o.d.) and left eyes (o.s.), respectively. Tear film osmolarity was 311 (+/-12) mOsms/L o.d. and 314 (+/-11) o.s., corresponding to an elevated level in 48% and 63% of the right and left eyes, respectively. TFBUT was 7 (+/-7) sec o.d. and 7 (+/-8) sec o.s., whereas interblink interval was 16 (+/-11). Vital staining score was 4 (+/-3) in both eyes. Schirmer I was 25 (+/-12) mm o.d. and 27 (+/-11) o.s. Corneal sensitivity (using Cochet-Bonnet aesthesiometer) was 48 (+/-17) mm o.d. and 49 (+/-15) mm o.s. Meibum quality was 4 (+/-0) and meibum expressibility (+/-2), and was the same bilaterally. Meibography showed gland dropout in one or more eyelids in 87% of the patients, while 13% had more than 50% drop out in all four eyelids. TFBUT and interblink interval correlated significantly (r=0.45 o.d and r= 0.44 o.s).
Conclusions :
Sixty-three percent of the patients had an abnormally high osmolarity level, and 87% of the patients had some degree of gland dropout. Interestingly, despite the low mean age of this cohort, there was a high prevalence of dry eye disease.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.