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Tear film osmolarity tester equals gold standard in study
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The OcuSense osmometer system achieved comparable results with the gold standard Clifton Osmometer in a study presented here.
In a poster presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting, Alan Tomlinson PhD, DSc, FCOptom, and colleagues conducted a study of 36 subjects, 15 of whom had dry eye disease, with the OcuSense osmometer system and the Clifton Osmometer.
According to the researchers, a significant correlation was found in the osmolarity measurements from each device (P = .006). In a Bland-Altman analysis, the majority of points were within 95% confidence limits.
The OcuSense was rated as having 73% sensitivity, 90% specificity and 85% positive predictive value, while the Clifton was rated as 73%, 71% and 65%, respectively, according to Dr. Tomlinson.
"The new instrument has the potential to provide clinicians with readily available, clinically applicable measure, which could become the gold-standard in [dry eye disease]," he said in the poster.
Dry eye disease is one of the most common problems encountered by ophthalmologists, and it is often not diagnosed due to the variety of preventing symptoms. An additional test to help establish the diagnosis with specificity and sensitivity would be very welcome. Tear film osmolarity is a long-standing predictor of dry eye disease that has been used in research institutions for years. The importance of this test in the clinical setting has not been well established but has the potential to change the way we evaluate this disease. The importance of this study is that it introduces a new osmometer that is easy to use and can be used in a clinical setting to help diagnose and customize treatment of dry eye disease.
– Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD
OSN Cornea/External Disease Board Member