Prevalence of Dry Eye in Patients at the FESI Optometry Clinic, UNAM

Abstract

Objetive: To report the prevalence of dry eye and to determine the differences between young and adult patients attending the Optometry Clinic of the Iztacala School of Higher Education at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Material and methods: In 1957, patients between the ages of 15 and 65 assessed at the “Centro de Diagnóstico de Alteraciones deSuperficie Ocular” of the Iztacala School of Higher Education of UNAM between August 2016and August 2017. The patients answered the digital version of the Ocular Surface Disease Index(OSDI) diagnostic questionnaire and the mucin arborization pattern was evaluated using the TearFerning Test (TFT). Results: The mean prevalence of the diagnosis with a significant differenceof positive P < 0.05 for Ferning (59.1%) and OSDI (63.8%). Using the Ferning technique in youngpatients (15 to 29 years), it was possible to assess a prevalence of dry eye of 51.9%; whereas inadults (30 to 65 years) it was 66.9%. Using the OSDI questionnaire, the prevalence was 60.1% inyoung people and 67.8% in adults; in addition, for each year of increase in age, the probabilityof having a dry eye increased by 1% with OSDI and 2% with Ferning. Conclusions: With thisstudy, it was established, for the first time, that the young people who go to the optometry clinicof FES-Iztacala, a sector that had not been previously considered, also suffer from this disease.