Abstract
Purpose:
To measure depressive symptoms in dry eye disease (DED) patients and controls using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
Methods:
Fifty-four newly-diagnosed and established DED patients and 46 control patients were recruited from the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago. The diagnostic criteria for DED were: (i) a reporting of symptoms: burning sensation, irritation, grittiness or foreign body sensation, light sensitivity, pain, dryness, soreness, or discomfort in the eye; (ii) a Schirmer value of < 10mm/5min in either eye ; or (iii) positive corneal staining and/or Rose Bengal corneal and conjunctival staining of > 1. The inclusion criteria for controls included no symptoms of DED, a Schirmer value of > 10/5min, and no corneal staining. None of the control subjects enrolled were using tear supplements. Subjective DED symptoms in cases and controls were measured using the OSDI. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the BDI and depression status was also assessed through medical and psychological history and through the history of prescribed medication. Independent T-Tests were performed to determine statistically significant differences between cases and controls.<br />
Results:
Mean age in DED cases and controls was 52.5 (SD 16.0) and 50.7 (15.0), respectively. Mean OSDI composite scores were 36.4 (SD 21.9) and 5.4 (SD 8.9) for cases and controls, respectively (P<0.001). Mean BDI scores were statistically significantly higher in the cases as compared to the controls, 9.20 (SD 7.7) and 4.95 (SD 5.4) (P=0.03), respectively. Forty three percent of the DED cases were clinically diagnosed with depression or were on anti-depressant medications, compared to 9% of the controls. For DED patients with depression the BDI mean score was 11.8 compared to 7.1 for DED without depression (P=0.03). DED patients without a clinical diagnosis of depression exhibited more depressive symptoms than controls.<br />
Conclusions:
Patients with DED exhibit more symptoms of depression compared to controls. The presence of depression in DED may cause patients to perceive symptoms in an anomalous fashion, thus affecting treatment decisions.