Treatment Effects in a Norwegian Cohort of Dry Eye Patients with Meibomian Gland Dysfunction Following Treatment According to Guidelines of The International Workshop on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (2011): Three and Six Months Follow-up

Abstract

Purpose : To investigate treatment effects of the guidelines of The International Workshop on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (2011) in a large cohort of Norwegian dry eye patients with meibomian gland dysfunction.

Methods : One hundred eight patients with dry eye disease and meibomian gland dysfunction were consecutively included in the study and treated with a stepwise approach according to the Dry Eye Severity Level (DESL). A comprehensive dry eye examination including tear film break-up time (TFBUT; normal value > 10), vital staining (Oxford Grading Scheme; normal value: 0) and dry eye severity level (DESL; 1 – 4 (mild – severe)) was performed at three-month and six-month follow-up visits. Data are presented as mean with standard deviation.

Results : Mean age in the study (n=108) was 52.3±16.2; 31.6% males and 68.4% females. Baseline DESL was 2.15±0.52, TFBUT was 5.52±4.21 and vital staining grade was 1.84±2.29. At the three-month follow-up visit, DESL and vital staining grades had decreased to 1.81±0.49 and 1.13±1.36, respectively (p<0.05 for both), while TFBUT had increased to 7.80±4.67 (p<0.05). The six-month follow-up examination confirmed the treatment effects with decreased DESL at 1.74±0.55 compared to baseline (p<0.05) (unchanged compared to three-month follow-up (p=0.12)), increased TFBUT at 8.70±5.18 compared to both baseline and three-month follow-up (p<0.05), and decreased vital staining grade of 0.97±1.56 compared to baseline (p<0.05) (unchanged compared to three-month follow-up (p=0.70)).

Conclusions : Treatment of dry eye disease in patients with meibomian gland dysfunction according to the guidelines of the International Workshop on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (2011) was effective at both three and six months follow-up.

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