Advanced Diagnosis Method Analysis of the Dry Eye Disease: A Bibliographic Study (2012-2022)

Abstract

Dry eye disease (DED) is one of the most common eye diseases. There is at least one DED patient in almost every five people. Especially in the era of COVID-19, the rate of DED is inevitably increasing. The reason falls on the frequency of screen use, the inappropriate way of mask-wearing, etc. Thus, based on the international and national literature databases, this study utilizes a systematic review method on DED diagnosis. 2131 unduplicated records are extracted from Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases. The most contributed countries, authors, journals, references, disciplines, and keywords are recognized. Findings show that DED research has burst in 2018. China is the second contributing country in this field. Interdisciplinary is involved in this topic, including ophthalmology, medicine, healthcare, and neurology. According to the publications of the most cited authors, the most contribution falls on the DED diagnosis standard. According to the hot topics, DED has a deep relation to human daily habits, ages, chronic disease, eye infection, and trauma. Furthermore, the major diagnosing methods are clustered as 12 clusters, which are Tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer I test (SIT), cornea fluorescein staining (CFS), Interferometry and slit-lamp images, in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) images, Meibometry images, Tear osmolarity, Proteomic analysis, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnosis, subjective diagnosis, and demographic factors. Finally, challenges and future perspectives are discussed.