Clinical findings of Dry Eye Disease in a large Norwegian cohort based on osmolarity measurements

Abstract

Purpose : To investigate clinical parameters in three osmolarity level subgroups in a large Norwegian cohort of dry eye disease (DED) patients.

Methods : This study was conducted on 470 patients diagnosed with DED of different etiologies. All patients received an extensive ophthalmological work-up. The cohort was divided into three groups based on tear osmolarity levels. Cut-off values for tear osmolarity (mOsm/L) were ≤300 (group 1); 301-320 (group 2), and ≥321 (group 3). Data are presented as mean with standard deviation. Pearson’s correlation was used for calculation. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant.

Results : Tear osmolarity levels ≤300 were seen in 17.2% of the patients (n=81), while 56.2% of patients (n=264) had tear osmolarity levels ranging from 301 to 320, and 26.6% of patients (n=125) had tear osmolarity levels ≥321. The tear film break-up times (TFBUT) of group 1 and group 2 were 5.43±4.42 and 4.59±3.64, respectively (p=0.081). The vital stainings of group 1 and group 2 were 1.12±1.8 and 1.24±1.60, respectively (p=0.738). The third group of patients, however, had significantly lower TFBUT values (3.99±3.67, p=0.008) and higher vital staining grade (1.95±4.79, p=0.041) compared to group 1, but not compared to group 2.

Conclusions : Patients with high tear osmolarity presented with more severe DED as reflected by lower TFBUT and higher vital staining grades. Thus, osmolarity measurements are useful in clinical practice.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.