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Study looks at associations between dry eye, depression
Women with dry eye symptoms had higher odds of having depression compared with symptom-free patients, according to a cross-sectional study.
Researchers included 3,514 participants from nine international sites who were enrolled in the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance. The women met at least one of five inclusion criteria for registry enrollment, which included dry eye or dry mouth symptoms, a previous diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome, abnormal serology, bilateral parotid gland enlargement or multiple dental caries.
According to the study, 2,075 participants had either no or minimal depression and 1,110 participants had moderate to severe depression; 1,440 women were diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, and 1,653 were negative for Sjögren’s syndrome.
Participants who answered “yes” to the question “do your eyes feel dry” had 1.82-fold greater odds of having depression compared with participants who answered “no.” Participants who reported a specific ocular sensation, such as light sensitivity or burning, had 2.45-fold higher odds of depression compared with those who reported no ocular sensations.
Researchers preformed a subgroup analysis of asymptomatic participants to determine if a diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome predicted depression. This analysis included 315 asymptomatic participants without Sjögren’s syndrome and 290 asymptomatic participants with Sjögren’s syndrome. Additionally, 1,338 women without Sjögren’s syndrome complained of dry eyes and/or dry mouth and 1,150 women with Sjögren’s syndrome reported the same symptoms. A mixed-effects logistic regression showed Sjögren’s syndrome was associated with lower odds of depression compared with not meeting the criteria for Sjögren’s syndrome, according to the study. – by Robert Linnehan
Disclosures: Gonzalez reports he is supported by a career development award from the National Institutes of Health – National Eye Institute grant K23EY026998. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.