Patients suffering from dry eye disease (DED) have a lower quality of life, reporting negative effects on visual function, their ability to carry out daily activities and their work productivity, revealed new research.
The study, led by the University of Southampton, explored how DED affects the lives of adults in the UK through an online survey of 1,000 patients with DED and a further 1,000 without. Participants undertook a questionnaire from the National Eye Institute about their visual function and a EuroQol questionnaire on health-related quality of life. Those who said they experienced DED also answered further questions to assess the severity of their symptoms.
The results, published by BMJ Open, showed that a higher proportion of participants with DED had problems with mobility, experienced more difficulties in their day-to-day activities and were more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression than patients without the condition. Those with the most severe symptoms were more likely to experience a negative impact on their social and emotional functioning as well work productivity, including missing more time from work.
Study lead Dr Pawez Hossain, associate professor in ophthalmology at the University of Southampton, said, “This study provided some very useful information on the burden that dry eye disease places on patients. As well as confirming the impact on work and social lives we also showed that the extent of the effects are consistent with the severity of symptoms.
"We also found that participants with dry eye disease symptoms were a lot more likely to suffer from other comorbidities, twice as many suffered from arthritis, hearing loss or irritable bowel disease compared to the cohort without symptoms. Whilst we cannot draw causal associations through this study, the presence of dry eye disease does appear to impact on an individual’s health and vision related quality of life.”
