Prevalence and associated factors of dry eye syndrome in adult diabetic patience attending Kiruddu National Referral Hospital Diabetes Clinic

Abstract

Introduction: Dry Eye Syndrome is a major complication in diabetic patients that if not well managed can lead to visual disability and blindness. General Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of dry eye syndrome in adult Diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients attending DM clinic at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital (KNRH)). Methods and materials: A hospital based cross sectional study design was used. Adult DM patients attending DM clinic at KNRH were systematically sampled. A standardized questionnaire was used to assess for DES symptoms and all participants were assessed for tear breakup time (TBUT) and tear secretion. Questionnaire data was entered in Epi-data software version 3.1 and exported to STATA software version 14 for cleaning and analysis. Categorical data was summarized using frequencies and percentages and continuous data using mean ± standard deviation or median and interquartile ranges. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was carried out using modified Poisson regression method. Results: Of the 385 patients examined, 60.3%(232) were females. The mean age of participants was 53 years with a standard deviation 11.6 years. The overall prevalence of dry eye syndrome was 32.5% and was more among females than males. At multivariate analysis, patients with rheumatoid arthritis were 3 times more likely to have dry eye syndrome compared to those without rheumatoid arthritis (adjusted OR 2.82, 95%CI (1.709-4.648) and p-value <0.001). Similarly, dry eye syndrome was 95% higher among female diabetic patients than male (adjusted OR 1.95, 95%CI (1.154-3.304) and p-value 0.013). Patient whose visits to the eye doctor was within ≤ 1 year were 2 times more likely to have DES compared to those who visited the eye doctor after more than a year (adjusted OR 2.22, 95%CI (1.475-3.345, p-value <0.001). Conclusion and recommendation: Prevalence of DES was high in this study setting. Dry eye syndrome was associated with female gender and presence of arthritis and frequent visits to the eye doctor. Therefore, diabetics should be routinely screened for Dry eye syndrome. Furthermore, population based longitudinal study of dry eye is necessary to measure incidence and to establish the temporal relationship between exposures and onset of symptoms.