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Dry eye more common in elderly Taiwanese population
A few symptoms are gender-related, although none are age-related.
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The prevalence of dry eye is higher in elderly Taiwanese residents than in Caucasian populations, according to the initial results of a study conducted in Taipei, Taiwan.
Researchers led by Wen-Ming Hsu, MD, of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, conducted a population-based study to obtain prevalence and demographic data of dry eye syndrome in elderly Chinese people. While the disease’s prevalence is well-recorded in whites, it is less well-known in Asians, the researchers noted.
Candidates examined
Researchers identified candidates from a household registration system and chose a sample of 2,045 subjects aged 65 years and older for their population-based, cross-sectional study. The research was conducted between July 1999 and December 2000. Of this group, 1,361 participated in a survey and eye exam.
The questionnaire included the six items assessed by the Schein study conducted in the United States, as well as two more criteria of stickiness and tearing found in other dry eye studies.
After trained interviewers contacted participants and completed questionnaires, the subjects were invited to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital for eye exams. This included refraction, tonometry, acuity and slit-lamp exams, as well as tear film breakup and Schirmer tests. Dry eye tests were done without knowing the results of the questionnaire.
Dry eye was defined as having one or both eyes with a tear film breakup time of less than 10 seconds, Schirmer test score of less than 5 seconds, fluorescein score of greater than 1 or meibomium gland disease, including telangiectasia or plugging detected by the slit lamp.
Results
Of the subjects contacted, 2,038 completed the questionnaire and 1,361 underwent an eye exam at the veterans hospital.
The mean age of participants was 72.2 years, and 60.4% were men.
One-third of the study population, (459 of 1,361) had at least one dry eye symptom often or all of the time. Women reported symptoms 1.49 times more frequently.
Of the symptoms, 78.9% had low tear breakup times, 62.5% had low Schirmer test results and 61.7% had abnormal anatomic features of the meibomium glands.
Dry eye symptoms were not significantly associated with age, researchers reported. In the study group, 30.2% of men and 39.2% of the women reported one or more symptoms often or all of the time. Compared to men, women are significantly more likely to have dry eye symptoms and positive tests and report tearing and stickiness more frequently. No association at all was made between dry eye and age.
“Dry eye symptoms were very common in this population-based sample of Chinese people 65 years of age in Taiwan,” researchers reported in Ophthalmology. They concluded that the study “indicated a very high prevalence of dry eye compared to other studies of white populations.”
For Your Information:Reference:
- Wen-Ming Hsu, MD, can be reached at Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201 Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 11217, Taiwan; +(886) 2-2875-7325; fax: +(886) 2- 872-0959; e-mail: wmhsu@vghtpe.gov.tw.
- Lin PY, Tsai SY, et al. Prevalence of dry eye among an elderly Chinese population in Taiwan. Ophthalmology. 2003;110:1096-1101.