Dry eye symptoms, ocular pain intensity associated with sleep disturbances
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Key takeaways:
- Ocular symptom severity was related to most components of sleep quality.
- Sleep disturbances were most closely linked to dry eye symptoms, ocular pain and convergence insufficiency.
Symptoms of dry eye disease were more closely related to sleep disturbances than exam findings, although inflammation and meibum quality were linked to subjective sleep quality, according to a study in BMJ Open Ophthalmology.
“We found that ocular symptom severity, captured both with [dry eye] and pain questionnaires, was related to all components of sleep quality, except for the use of sleep medication,” researchers at the University of Miami and Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center wrote.
Participants in the cross-sectional study included 141 veterans (mean age, 56 years; 87% men) at the Miami Veterans Affairs eye clinic who underwent an ocular surface examination, completed questionnaires about dry eye symptom severity and were assessed for sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.
According to results, 76% of participants reported mild or greater dry eye symptoms. Researchers reported a stronger correlation between sleep metrics and ocular symptoms vs. signs of dry eye, with the strongest symptom association between Ocular Surface Disease Index and sleep disturbances (P < .0005). Of dry eye signs, ocular surface inflammation and meibum quality were related to subjective sleep quality (P = .03).
Of all sleep components measured, sleep disturbances were most closely associated with dry eye symptoms, ocular pain and convergence insufficiency, while signs of tear and ocular surface dysfunction were less related to sleep.
“Addressing both [dry eye] symptoms and sleep disturbances as early as they are identified may help reduce sleeping problems and improve mental health simultaneously,” researchers wrote.
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