Abstract
Purpose :
Multiple papers have noted correlation between headaches and dry eye. There has been little research differentiating whether there is significant difference between migraine and muscle tension headache with respect to dry eye symptom severity. This study attempted to determine whether dry eye symptoms were present in clinically significant amounts, and if so, if the difference in symptom severity correlated with the type and severity of headache.
Methods :
Consecutive patients presenting with history of headaches were enrolled. Headaches were classified according to IHS criteria, which includes multiple factors such as duration, location, light sensitivity, and associated characteristics. Patients were given two validated dry eye questionnaires, the Ocular Surface Damage Index (OSDI) and the Dry Eye Questionnaire – 5 (DEQ-5). Quality of life impact was determined using the HIT-6 Questionnaire, which helps to determine the amount of disability generated from headache.
Results :
A total of 42 patients were enrolled. 10 patients were enrolled into the Migraine subgroup (male = 4, female = 6; mean age 39.6 +/-18.09 years), and 32 were enrolled into the Tension subgroup (male = 13, female = 19, mean age 52.56 +/-20.12 years). Difference in life impact (HIT-6) scores were 48.4 +/-10.27 for Migraine and 37.4+/-12.78 for Tension (p = 0.01). In the Migraine group, mean OSDI score was 38.125 +/-24.35, and mean DEQ-5 score was 17.5 +/-5.25. In the Tension group, mean OSDI score was 29.167 +/-22.26, and mean DEQ-5 score was 14.22 +/-6.0. The difference between Migraine and Tension subgroups was not statistically significant for either OSDI (p=0.277) or DEQ-5 scores (p=0.126).
Conclusions :
For patients presenting with history of headaches, dry eye symptom scores were noted to be elevated in patients who suffered from both migraine and tension headache subtypes. However, there was high variability in dry eye symptom severity, as evidenced by the high standard deviations in each group. Further studies using larger numbers of patients will be needed for these trends to be examined in higher detail.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.