The Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Dry Eye Syndrome Classified by Severity and Causes Including the Autoimmune and Non-autoimmune Diseases: A Cross-sectional Study in Thailand

Abstract

Background: The common causes of Dry eye syndrome (DES) were autoimmune or non-autoimmune disorders. DES is common but lack of data in quality of life (QoL) of DES patients in Thailand. The primary outcome of this study was to determine QoL and health utility in patients of DES by EuroQol 5-domain (EQ-5D) of the 5-level version (5L) instrument. The secondary outcome was comparison of the utility in the patients of DES classified by severity and causes including the autoimmune and non-autoimmune diseases. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study at a hospital in the northern part of Thailand. The inclusions DES patients were followed by Tear Film and Ocular surface Society the Dry Eye WorkShop II definition. The EQ-5D-5L (Thai version) descriptive system and the EQ visual analogue scale (VAS) was instrument for QoL evaluation. Results: Total patients of DES were fifty-six. The most patients were female. The mean age was 57.7(± 13.9) years. Most patients (94.6%) were female. The mean age was 59.7 (± 13.9) years old. The median time from diagnosis of DES was 4.7 years (IQR = 2.2 to 6.8 years). The common cause of DES associated was autoimmune disease. Primary Sjogren syndrome and idiopathic causes were the most common causes in autoimmune diseases and non- autoimmune diseases, respectively. In autoimmune disease, Primary Sjogren syndrome, was 41.18%. The most common causes of non-autoimmune diseases were idiopathic. The mean of EQ-5D-utility and EQ-VAS of DES were 0.76 (± 0.18) and 72.86 (± 15.19), respectively. The mean of EQ-5D-utility and EQ-VAS in these patients who were classified by severity including mild, moderate and severe were 0.84 (± 0.16) and 67.31(± 15.76), 0.78 (± 0.14) and 74.47 (± 15.71), 0.71 (± 0.22) and 74.58 (± 14.36), respectively. The mean of EQ-5D-utility and EQ-VAS in these patients who were classified by autoimmune or non-autoimmune disorders were 0.75 (± 0.21) and 75.78 (± 14.21), 0.78 (± 0.15) and 68.96 (± 15.88), respectively. There is no statistic significant in the EQ-5D-utility and EQ-VAS among severity and the causes including autoimmune or non-autoimmune disorders of these patients. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the importance of assessing QoL in DES. Primary Sjogren syndrome and idiopathic causes were the most common causes in autoimmune diseases and non-autoimmune diseases, respectively. The EQ-5D-utility was accorded with the severity of DES. However, no statistic significant was showed in the mean of EQ-5D-utility and EQ-VAS between the severity and between the causes including the autoimmune and non-autoimmune diseases of these patients.