Association of the severity of meibomian gland dysfunction with dyslipidemia in Indian population

PURPOSE: To correlate the severity of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) with the serum lipoprotein levels. METHODS: The study was conducted as a prospective observational study over a period of 18 months. Ninety patients diagnosed with MGD were enrolled after they gave their informed consent according to the inclusion–exclusion criteria. Meibomian gland status was evaluated by meibum quality, expressibility, and numerical scoring. Lipid profile was done from an overnight fasting blood sample and evaluated for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides (TGs). RESULTS: Patients with higher stages of MGD more often had serum TGs >150 mg/dL, total cholesterol >200 mg/dL, an LDL >130 mg/dL, and serum HDL >40 mg/dL, and there exists an association between increasing stage of MGD, and age, female sex, and increasing values of all the lipid profile components. CONCLUSION: A very strong association exists between increasing age and increasing severity of stage of MGD. A positive association exists between female sex and increasing severity of stage of MGD. A positive association exists between increasing severity of MGD and increasing levels of all the components of lipid profiles, namely LDL, HDL, total cholesterol, and triglycerides.