Abstract
Purpose :
To assess the associations of dry eye disease (DED) severity of symptoms and signs with the quality of life as measured by Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in a large cohort of patients with moderate-to-severe DED.
Methods :
Secondary analysis of data from the DREAM Study, a large multi-center randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of omega-3 supplement for DED. At baseline, 6 and 12 months follow-up, participants (N=535) were assessed for DED symptoms using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and DED signs using conjunctival staining, corneal staining, tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer’s testing, meibomian gland dysfunction and tear osmolarity. Quality of life was evaluated using the SF-36, which included the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS). Spearman correlation coefficients (rho) were used to evaluate correlations between severity of DED and SF-36.
Results :
At baseline, worse DED symptoms indicated by higher OSDI total score were significantly correlated with worse PCS (rho=-0.13, p=0.002) and MCS (rho=-0.09, p=0.03) of SF-36 (Table 1). Worse vision-related function was significantly correlated with worse PCS of SF-36 (rho=-0.18, p<0.0001), and worse ocular symptoms was significantly correlated with worse MCS of SF-36 (rho=-0.15, p<0.001). More severe DED signs including corneal staining (rho=-0.22, p<0.001), Schirmer test (rho=0.11, p=0.01), TBUT (rho=0.14, p<0.001), and tear osmolarity (rho=-0.12, p=0.02) were significantly correlated with worse PCS score of SF-36, but none of DED signs were significantly correlated with MCS score of SF-36 (p≥0.39. Table 2). ln longitudinal analysis, only worsening of ocular symptoms was significantly correlated with worsening of MCS of SF-36 (rho=-0.09, p=0.04).
Conclusions :
Among DREAM participants with moderate-to-severe dry eye disease, there were statistically significant but weak correlations observed between the severity of dry eye symptoms/signs and the physical or mental components of quality of life. Future research should explore the development of more targeted and sensitive quality of life assessments for individuals with DED, and should investigate their associations in diverse populations to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationship between DED severity and quality of life.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.