Relation between Vitamin D Deficiency and Dry Eye

Abstract

Background Tears are very important to the overall health of the eye and vision. The tear film is mechanically distributed over the ocular surface through a neuronally controlled blinking mechanism. Normal blink reflex, contact between the external ocular surface and the eye lids, and normal corneal epithelium are three factors required for effective resurfacing of the tear film (tear stability). (1) Objective To demonstrate the relation between vitamin D deficiency and dry eye disease searching for finding a correlation between dry eye parameters with vitamin D deficiency. Patients and Methods Cross sectional study. A total 50 patients attending the ophthalmology outpatient clinic of General Ain Shams Hospital, from February 2019 to October 2019 were enrolled in the study after the approval of the research ethical committee in the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University. They were divided randomly into 2 groups. Group 1: consisted of 35 patients who were vitamin D deficient. Group 2: consisted of 15 patients who had normal vitamin D levels (control group). Results The study showed that there was statistically significant increase in symptoms of dry eye in female patients than male patients and there was statistically significant decrease in the level of tear film break up time, Shirmer test and serum 25 (OH) vitamin D in cases with dry eye than those without. It was found that there was statistically significant decrease in vitamin D level in female cases than male cases. Also, there was statistically significant decrease in vitamin D level in cases with symptoms of dry eye and conjunctival hyperemia than cases without. There was also statistically significant positive correlation between serum 25 (OH) vitamin D and tear film break up time and Shirmer test. Conclusion The present study suggests that patients with vitamin D deficiency may suffer from dry eye. Investigations to confirm and quantify a clinical diagnosis of dry eye should include serum 25 (OH) vitamin D when suspecting vitamin D deficiency especially in patients prone to this type of vitamin deficiency.