Tear film lipid layer pattern in office dry eye

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the tear film lipid layer pattern in office dry eye (ODE) with a Keeler tearscope and to determine its relationship to clinical tests.Methods Cross-sectional study.Thirty-three ODE patients and 28 control subjects participated in this study.Subjects were evaluated with the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI),which was followed by measurements of the total tear meniscus volume (TTMV),tear film lipid layer thickness (TFLLT) grading,non-invasive tear breakup time (NITBUT),fluorescein tear breakup time (FTBUT),corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) and Schirmer I test (SIT).All the measurements were performed on one eye selected at random for each subject.A paired t test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the difference in each variable between the two groups.Spearman's rank correlation was used to indicate the relationship between TFLLT and other variables in the ODE group.Results TFLLT grading was significantly lower in the ODE group [2(1～3)] compared to the control group [3(3～4)] (U=250,P＜0.01).High sensitivity and specificity of TFLLT grading (0.545 and 0.857,respectively) were found in the diagnosis of ODE,the cut-off value of which was grade 2.TFLLT grading was correlated with TTMV (r=0.349,P＜0.05) and NITBUT (r=0.485,P＜0.05),while it was not correlated with the OSDI score,FTBUT,CFS or SIT.Conclusion A Keeler tearscope may effectively evaluate tear film lipid layer in ODE.Tear film lipid layer can also reflect the tear meniscus volume and tear film stability in ODE. Key words: Xerophthalmia; Tear film lipid layer; Keeler Tearscope