Prevalence and associated factors of dry eye: Our experience in patients above 40 years of age at a Tertiary Care Center

CONTEXT: Dry eye is a very common as well as under-diagnosed ocular disorder. It is not only troublesome in terms of its symptoms but also imposes a great financial burden. AIMS: To determine the prevalence of dry eye in ophthalmology out-patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital and its association with various clinico-epidemiological factors. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A hospital-based study at a Tertiary Care Center was conducted including 400 out-patients of age 40 years and above. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were consecutively selected and underwent a routine ophthalmological examination along with tear film break-up time (TBUT) as a screening tool for detecting the presence of dry eye. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: We performed a descriptive, univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 58.6 years. The overall prevalence of dry eye was found to be 54.3%. An association was found between dry eye prevalence and outdoor workers, participants working indoor using air conditioners, housewives, diabetics, patients who have undergone previous ocular surgery and those with meibomian gland dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Dry eye is a very common condition with a high prevalence among the elderly. We recommend the screening of all out-patients by TBUT, which is a simple test to perform and examination of lids for meibomian gland disease, which if present can be treated. Further studies are needed to establish uniform diagnostic criteria for dry eye, which will help to get more concrete prevalence data, as well as its etiological factors.