Advancing age does not strongly correlate with symptoms and signs of Dry Eye Disease in a large Norwegian cohort

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate the relationship between age and signs and symptoms of dry eye disease (DED) in a Norwegian cohort of patients with DEDMethodsClinical signs and symptoms were evaluated for 957 subjects at the Norwegian Dry Eye Clinic. All patients received an extensive ophthalmological work‐up, including tear meniscus height, blink rate, corneal sensibility, tear film break‐up time, Ocular Protection Index, vital staining, Schirmer I, meibum quality and meibum expressibility [CJ1], and in many cases osmolarity measurements. Pearson correlations between signs and symptoms were performed. P values below 0.05 were considered significant. [CJ1] This is not a real word, but may be in ophthalmology it is commonResultsNo correlations above r2 = 0.28 were found between age and signs or symptoms. Increasing age was only correlated with lower protection index (0.13), lower Schirmer I values (0.22), lower corneal sensibility (0.15) and higher Meibum expressibility (0.28)ConclusionsAdvancing age did not correlate strongly with any parameters of dry eye disease. This is particularly interesting as advancing age is regarded as a considerable risk factor for the development of dry eye disease.