Impact of Dry Eye on Prolonged Reading.

SIGNIFICANCE: Patients with dry eye frequently report difficulty with reading. However, the impact of dry eye on reading has not been studied in detail. This study shows the unfavorable effect of dry eye on reading speed and offers mechanisms that may be responsible. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of dry eye signs as well as symptoms on both short-duration out-loud and prolonged silent reading. METHODS: This study included 116 patients with clinically significant dry eye, 39 patients with dry eye symptoms only, and 31 controls, 50 years or older. After the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire, objective testing of dry eye (tear film stability studies, Schirmer's test, and ocular surface staining) was performed. Total OSDI score and two subscores (vision related and discomfort related) were calculated. A short-duration out-loud reading test and a 30-minute sustained silent reading test were performed. Reading speed for each test was calculated as words per minute (wpm) and compared across the three groups. RESULTS: Patients with clinically significant dry eye read slower than controls measured with sustained silent reading test (240 vs. 272 wpm, P = .04), but not with short-duration out-loud reading test (146 vs. 153 wpm, P = .47). Patients with dry eye symptoms only did not have slower reading speed measured using either reading test as compared with controls. However, vision-related OSDI subscore independently was associated with slower reading speed (P = .02). Multivariable regression models demonstrated that each 1-point (between 0 and 6) increase in corneal staining score led to a 10-wpm decrease in sustained silent reading speed (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a significant negative impact of dry eye (particularly presence of corneal staining) on prolonged reading. Prolonged reading task may serve as an objective clinically relevant test to measure the impact of dry eye on vision-related quality of life.

Effects of Prolonged Reading on Dry Eye.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate the effects of prolonged silent reading on tear film and ocular surface parameters. DESIGN: Prospective, observational clinical study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 177 patients with dry eye and 34 normal controls aged 50 years and older. METHODS: After evaluating symptoms using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire, the following tests were performed in consecutive order: automated noninvasive tear break-up time (TBUT), surface asymmetry and regularity indices, Schirmer's testing without anesthesia, corneal staining using fluorescein, and conjunctival staining using lissamine green. The participants were then asked to read a 30-minute validated passage silently. The tests were repeated after the reading task. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in tear film and ocular surface parameters after reading. RESULTS: All parameters, with the exception of surface asymmetry index, worsened after the reading task in patients with dry eye and in controls. The worsening reached a statistical significance for corneal and conjunctival staining in the dry eye group (P < 0.001) and for corneal staining in the control group (P < 0.01). At baseline, OSDI scores correlated only with corneal and conjunctival staining scores (r = 0.19, P = 0.006 and r = 0.27, P < 0.001). Among postreading measurements, baseline OSDI scores correlated with TBUT (r = -0.15, P = 0.03) in addition to corneal and conjunctival staining (r = 0.25, P < 0.001 and r = 0.22, P = 0.001). Changes in TBUT and Schirmer's test correlated significantly with their respective baseline values (r = -0.61, P < 0.001 and r = -0.44, P < 0.001), indicating that the more unstable the tear film and the lower the aqueous tear secretion, the worse they became after the prolonged reading task. Worsening in corneal staining directly correlated with the baseline conjunctival staining (r = 0.17, P = 0.02) and surface regularity index (r = 0.21, P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Evaluating tear film and ocular surface parameters at rest may miss clinical findings brought about by common everyday tasks such as reading, leading to discordance between patient-reported symptoms and clinician-observed signs. Quantifying dry eye after visually straining activities such as prolonged silent reading may help better understand patient symptomatology.

Association of dry eye and inflammatory systemic diseases in a tertiary care-based sample.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to review the frequency and types of inflammatory systemic diseases in a cohort of patients with dry eye, and identify clinical features suggesting the presence of these. METHODS: Consecutive new patients with a primary diagnosis of dry eye evaluated at a tertiary dry eye center between January 2010 and December 2011 were reviewed retrospectively. Standardized questionnaires were used to obtain data regarding systemic symptoms, previous medical diagnoses, and family history. Dry eye evaluations included Schirmer testing, tear film break-up time, corneal fluorescein staining, and bulbar conjunctival lissamine green staining. Clinically significant dry eye was defined as having a Schirmer test score without anesthesia of ≤10 mm or conjunctival lissamine green staining of ≥1 using the Oxford scale. RESULTS: A total of 228 new patients were analyzed. Of these, 47.4% (108/228) presented with a known diagnosis of inflammatory disease. Based on a review of systems and ocular examination, 81 patients (81/228) underwent a further work-up that revealed 25 additional diagnoses that were not known on presentation. The most common newly identified conditions included occult thyroid eye disease (n = 20), primary Sjögren Syndrome (4), and Sjögren Syndrome suspect (1). Female gender, family history of autoimmune disease, self-reported joint pain or dry mouth, external signs of orbital inflammation, and conjunctival chemosis were more common in patients with inflammatory systemic disease as compared with that in patients with no identifiable condition (P < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS: Systemic inflammatory diseases are frequently associated with dry eye in patients evaluated at a tertiary academic center. Diagnostic evaluations may help uncover previously undiagnosed significant conditions in about one-third of tested patients.