Different perception of dry eye symptoms between patients with and without primary Sjogren\u2019s syndrome

Kyoung Woo Kim,Minjeong Kim,Yeoun Sook Chun

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-06191-x

Kyoung Woo Kim, Minjeong Kim + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06191-x

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Abstract

Here, we investigated the different perception of dry eye symptoms between in patients with and without primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS). In this study, 221 patients with dry eye disease (DED) without pSS (non-SS DED group) and 55 patients with DED with pSS (SS DED group) were included. The ocular discomfort was evaluated using ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire and patients were further divided into 3 severity subgroups according to OSDI scores. The OSDI score was higher in the non-SS DED group even after matching corneal erosion scores despite the ocular surface erosions and tear deficiency was worse in the SS DED group. The corneal sensitivity was nearly normal in both groups without inter-group difference (Non-SS DED group: 5.82 ± 0.54 cm, SS DED group: 5.90 ± 0.29 cm, p = 0.217). Moreover, all clinical parameters were not significantly correlated with OSDI scores in both non-SS DED group and SS DED group. In the mild and severe OSDI subgroups, the ocular surface erosions and tear deficiency were worse in the SS DED group whereas the OSDI scores were not different between groups. In conclusion, clinicians should be aware that pSS patients may complain less of their discomfort unlike their actual severe status of DED.

Highlights

We investigated the different perception of dry eye symptoms between in patients with and without primary Sjogren’s syndrome
The 221 patients were with dry eye disease (DED) without primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) group and the other 55 patients were with DED with pSS (i.e., SS DED) group
The percentage of females was higher in the SS DED group (94.5% vs. 73.3% in the non-SS DED group, p = 0.001, Table 1), which was reported in a previous report that showed that the ratio of females to males in pSS was 16:120

Summary

Introduction

We investigated the different perception of dry eye symptoms between in patients with and without primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS). In the mild and severe OSDI subgroups, the ocular surface erosions and tear deficiency were worse in the SS DED group whereas the OSDI scores were not different between groups. Primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that has a unique pathophysiology It affects the exocrine function of the lacrimal and salivary glands, and patients suffer from peripheral neuropathy, including that of the corneal nerve. We compared the subjective perception of dry eye symptoms between DED with and without pSS to understand how the chronic ocular surface inflammation as seen in pSS contributes to the level of ocular discomfort

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Conclusion