The prevalence of dry eye in patients presenting for routine cataract surgery as determined by subjective and objective testing

Session Details

Session Title: Cornea: Medical

Session Date/Time: Monday 16/09/2019 | 08:30-10:30

Paper Time: 08:36

Venue: Free Paper Forum: Podium 2

First Author: : P.Jensen NORWAY

Co Author(s): :    K. Gundersen                             

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of dry eye in patients presenting for routine cataract surgery as indicated using recognized subjective and objective testing.

Setting:

A single clinical site in Haugesund, Norway which performs cataract surgery.

Methods:

All patients presenting for cataract surgery at the site were screened using a standard series of subjective and objective tests related to dry eye. Results from one eye were randomly selected, though osmolarity from both eyes was considered. Eyes were categorized as “Dry” based on results from the following 4 tests: A) Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI, a subjective questionnaire), B) Tear osmolarity as measured with the Tearlab Osmolarity System, C) Schirmer 1 test D) Objective tear film breakup (NIKBUT) as determined by the Oculus Keratograph. The reported prevalences for the different tests, based on site-specific cutoff criteria, were compared.

Results:

Minimum 250 subjects will be included in this prevalence study. Test results from the first 49 patients were available for analysis at the time of this abstract. Average age was 71.0 ± 7.5 years, and 24 patients were female. Calculated prevalence of dry eye was lowest for the OSDI (31%), followed by osmolarity (35%), the objective tear film breakup measurement (55%) and the Schirmer test (57%). Almost 60% of patients (29/49) had positive results for 2 or more tests. If a single test was positive (n = 13), it was most often osmolarity or the Schirmer test.

Conclusions:

The calculated prevalence of dry eye in patients presenting for cataract surgery varied with the test method. Subjective testing appeared to produce the lowest estimate of prevalence for dry eye in these patients, which may be a function of reduced corneal sensitivity with age. Objective tests suggest that a high percentage (> 35%) of patients presenting for cataract surgery have dry eye.

Financial Disclosure:

None