Risk Factors for Inflammatory Dry Eye in Young Adults in Twenties

Abstract

Purpose : As inflammation is suggested as a core drive factor for dry eye, in this study the effects of contact lens wear and corneal refractive surgery on inflammatory dry eye were investigated in Korean twenties. Methods : Eighty-one adults (162 eyes) in their twenties who had no ocular disease were evaluated by 'Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9)' test as known biomarker for inflammatory dry eye and 'OSDI/conjunctival hyperemia' test for screening of inflammatory dry eye. We analyzed prevalence and risk factors of inflammatory dry eye based on two inflammatory dry eye tests, and analyzed them using Chi-square test and logistic regression. The statistical significance level was p＜0.050. Results : The prevalence of inflammatory dry eye evaluated by MMP-9 and OSDI/conjunctival hyperemia tests in all subjects was shown 77.15% and 64.31%, respectively. The prevalence of inflammatory dry eye in contact lens wearer group with two tests was 85.23% and 75.00%, respectively, and that in the non-wearer group was 67.57% and 52.70%, respectively. The risk of inflammatory dry eye in contact lens wears was 2.77 times (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.29~5.99), and 2.69 times (OR 2.69, 95% CI 1.39~5.23) higher than non contact lens wearers, respectively. The prevalence of inflammatory dry eye in corneal refractive surgery group compared with non operative group was not significantly different (p=0.682 and p=0.370, respectively). Conclusion : It was confirmed that the prevalence of inflammatory dry eye in Korean twenties was very high, and the odds ratio of inflammatory dry eye was 2 times higher than contact lens wearers. Therefore, the contact lens care education for contact lens weareres would be necessary to prevent inflammatory dry eye.