Abstract
Purpose :
There is an increasing interest the association of dry eye disease (DED) and systemic inflammatory diseases. Inflammatory diets can induce gut dysbiosis which can contribute to chronic inflammation in the body and possibly inflammation of the ocular surface. The purpose of this study was determine any relationship between an inflammatory diet and severity of DED in an adult Australian population.
Methods :
This was a cross-sectional survey of 103 subjects aged over 18 years. Persons taking oral contraceptives, antidepressants, antihistamines, diuretics and beta-blockers were excluded. Two validated online surveys were distributed to eligible participants: the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and the Healthy Eating Quiz (HEQ), a subset of a validated food frequency Australian Eating Survey (University of Newcastle, NSW). General linear model was used to analyze the association of HEQ scores with dry eye severity after adjusting for age and gender. A similar model was used to analyze the association of OSDI scores with each food group score and total HEQ score. Level of significance was set at 5%.
Results :
Surveyed subjects ranged from 18 to 64 years (59% 18-24 years, 25% 25-44 years, 16% ≥45 years); 49.5% females; and ranged in OSDI dry eye severity (24% Normal (0-12) 30% Mild (13-22), 27% Moderate (23-32), 18% Severe (33-100)). A number of significant differences in the HEQ scores were noted between dry eye groups: Severe dry eye participants compared to Normal scored lower on HEQ (31.1 ± 8.9 vs 34.7 ± 10.8; p=0.03); Normals scored higher than Mild and Severe participants in vegetable consumption (HEQ 12.4 ± 4.3 vs HEQ 11.2 ± 3.6; p=0.035 and HEQ 10.3 ± 4.6; p=0.026, respectively); Normals scored higher in vegetarian protein alternatives consumption compared to Severe (HEQ 2.7 ± 1.4 vs HEQ 1.9 ± 1.2; p=0.040).
After adjusting for age and gender, lower OSDI score was associated with higher total HEQ score (r= -0.18, p=0.011) and higher scores for vegetables (r=-0.15, p=0.045) and vegetarian protein alternatives (r= -0.22, p=0.018). Other food groups such as grains, dairy, fruits and meat did not reach statistical significance (r <-0.14, p>0.16)
Conclusions :
An overall healthier diet, as well as a higher consumption of vegetables and vegetarian protein alternatives, was found to be correlated with a lower severity of dry eye, suggesting that lower inflammatory diets such as the Mediterranean diet may have a protective effect against dry eye.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.