Original articleCorneal Sensitivity in Tear Dysfunction and its Correlation With Clinical Parameters and Blink Rate
Section snippets
Study Oversight
The institutional review board (IRB) at Baylor College of Medicine approved the study protocol to conduct clinical assessments in a prospective manner in which normal, non–dry eye subjects and those with tear dysfunction were enrolled for research participation after written informed consent. No retrospective IRB approval was necessary. Our study complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Study Design
Data for this comparative observational case series were collected from April 1,
Study Population
The demographic features for control and tear dysfunction subjects are presented in Table 2. Age ranged from 30 to 85 years (61.82 ± 12.77 [mean ± standard deviation]) in the 33 tear dysfunction subjects and from 25 to 79 years (47.4 ± 21.69 [mean ± standard deviation]) in the 10 control subjects. There was a statistically significant difference in age between all tear dysfunction (61.82 years) and control (47.4 years) subjects (P = .006), and between conjunctivochalasis (66.92 years) and
Discussion
In this study, we found corneal sensitivity to be reduced in the aqueous tear deficiency subset. Reduced corneal sensitivity was associated with greater eye irritation symptoms, tear instability, ocular surface disease, and blink rate. Previously published studies that evaluated corneal sensitivity in patients with dry eye have reported conflicting results (Supplemental Table, available at AJO.com).2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 19 Eleven studies have shown subjects with dry eye
Effie Z. Rahman received her BA in Biochemistry/Cell Biology, Psychology, and Ecology/Evolutionary Biology at Rice University. She is currently a fourth year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine with plans to pursue a career in academic ophthalmology.
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Effie Z. Rahman received her BA in Biochemistry/Cell Biology, Psychology, and Ecology/Evolutionary Biology at Rice University. She is currently a fourth year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine with plans to pursue a career in academic ophthalmology.
Peter K. Lam, MD, received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He currently serves as a resident in the Transitional Year Department at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center, Torrance, California. After his internship, Dr. Lam will continue to pursue his ophthalmology residency at Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana.
Supplemental Material available at AJO.com.