Purpose
To assess socio-demographic and health-related risk factors associated with dry eye.
Methods
In 2010, a total of 5,726 randomly selected national representative participants of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey underwent additional ophthalmologic examinations by the Korean Ophthalmologic Society. Subjects were asked to respond to a question of “Until now have you ever been diagnosed before of having dry eye, either eye, by a doctor?” with possible choices of “no” or “yes.” Independent variables were divided into four categories: 1) socio-demographic factors, 2) health examination variables, 3) health behavioral risk factors and 4) variables concerning the eyes. The risk factors for dry eye were identified by using a multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Results
The prevalence of dry eye was 8.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 7.3-9.2) in subjects aged 19 or older. History of any eye surgeries (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR)=2.2, 95% CI, 1.7-2.8), female sex (aOR=2.2, 95% CI, 1.5-3.3), extremely stressful status(aOR=1.8, 95% CI, 1.0-3.1), and hypercholesterolemia of ≥240 mg/dL (aOR=1.3, 95% CI, 1.0-1.7) were independent risk factors for dry eye. Binge alcohol users (aOR=0.6, 95% CI, 0.5-0.9) and subjects with occupations of farming, fishing, and forestry (aOR=0.2, 95% CI, 0.1-0.4) were less likely to have dry eye compared to their reference groups of non-drinkers and subjects with occupations in administration, management or white-collar professionals, respectively. Among subjects who received an eye surgery, ptosis surgery (aOR = 6.2, 95% CI, 1.4-27.1), cataract surgery(aOR = 1.8, 95% CI, 1.2-2.6), and refractive surgery(aOR=2.9, 95% CI, 1.8-4.5) were important risk factors.
Conclusions
Ophthalmologists should be aware that past experiences of eye surgeries could be one of the most important risk factors of dry eye, and should focus on treating dry eye problems in subjects who will receive or have already received an eye surgery.