Abstract
Purpose: :
To investigate the prevalence and the symptomatic features of dry eye disease among community based elderly population in Korea.
Methods: :
The random samples of community based subject who is older than 65 years were identified from the official household registration database in Seongnam city of Korea. A total of 1000 subject were enrolled and 657(65.7%) subjects (48.2% males, 51.8% females; mean age, 72.0±5.9 years) were participated in the study. A standardized questionnaire pertaining dry eye symptom, influence on activities in daily life, previous ocular history and dry mouth symptoms was asked by trained interviewers and Schirmer test was performed. An additional dry eye signs including slit-lamp examination of the conjunctiva, cornea, and the eyelids, tear-film breakup time, fluorescein stain of the cornea and meibomian gland dysfunction were assessed on 139 of the subjects. Association between symptoms and signs was also analyzed.
Results: :
In this participants, 30.3% (199/657)(including 6 symptom questions) and 42.6% (280/657)(including 9 symptom questions) were symptomatic, defined as reporting one or more dry eye symptoms often or all the time and 27.2% (176/648) had a low Schirmer test result (≤5mm). Women and low Schirmer result (≤5mm) were significantly associated with more frequent dry eye symptoms(p<0.05). There are no significant association of symptoms and other dry eye signs. Of those symptomatic, ocular dryness (44.3%), blurred vision (41.4%), tearing (38.2%) and foreign body sensation (24.6%) were the most frequently reported symptoms and reading (56.5%) followed by computer works (47.1%) were the most severely affected activities in their daily life. Furthermore, 61.6% (172/280) responded that they had visited an eye doctor, 50.7% (142/280) answered that they underwent ocular surgery in the past, and 39.6% (111/280) reported currently use of eye drops. Presence of dry mouth symptoms (53.5%) was also significantly associated with more frequent dry eye symptoms (p<0.05).
Conclusions: :
Symptoms of dry eye disease are common in elderly Korean population. Women and low Schirmer result (≤5mm) as well as dry mouth symptoms were significantly associated with more frequent dry eye symptoms, while other dry eye signs did not show the significant correlation.
Keywords: cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence