Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate one-year follow-up changes in clinical parameters of dry eye disease (DED) in patients receiving cyclosporine 0.05% eye drops (Restasis, Allergan) in a Norwegian cohort of dry eye patients.
Methods :
Three hundred forty patients (79% female/21% male, age 54.8±15.8 years) with DED of mixed etiologies presenting with signs of inflammation, for whom Restasis eye drop treatment was prescribed from their first visit at the Norwegian dry eye clinic, were consecutively included in the study. The patients underwent comprehensive dry eye work-up at baseline and after 12 months. The work-up included assessment of tear film break-up time (TFBUT), ocular surface staining using the Oxford grading scheme, Schirmer test I, meibum expressibility (ME), meibum quality (MQ) and dry eye severity level (DESL). Besides Restasis eye drops, all patients received additional preservative-free tear substitutes during 12 months. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for statistical analyses. Results are presented as mean and standard deviation.
Results :
TFBUT increased from 3.67±3.04 at baseline to 6.92±5.536 after 12 months (p<0.001). Vital staining decreased from 2.77±2.483 to 1.37±1.715 (p<0.0001). A decrease in ME was observed (1.39±0.976 at baseline compared to 1.07±1.0 after 12 months, p=0.019). DESL decreased from 2.21±0.547 at baseline to 1.81±0.485 at one year follow-up (p<0.0001). Changes in results of Schirmer I test and MQ were not significant.
Conclusions :
Topical cyclosporine treatment for DED proved effective with improvement of key clinical parameters of DED at 12 months follow-up.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.