Symptoms and signs of ocular surface disease related to topical medication in patients with glaucoma

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of glaucoma patients taking eye drops and control subjects without drops

	Glaucoma group with eye drops (n=79)	Control group without eye drops (n=30)	P-value	P-value adjusted for age
Mean age ± SD (years)	70.0± 11.7	62.4±11.9	0.003a
Female-to-male ratio	45:34	17:13	0.98b
Antiglaucoma medications
Median number of drops (quartile range), n	2 (1–3)	–	–
Median duration (quartile range), months	60 (36–120)	–	–
Median of OSDI (quartile range), score	11.1 (5.0–22.5)	9.2 (4.8–17.5)	0.41	0.18
Median of Schirmer test (quartile range), mm	10.0 (5.0–24.0)	10.0 (5.0–7.8)	0.93	0.19
Median of TBUT (quartile range), seconds	6.0 (5.0–8.0)	9.5 (6.0–12.3)	<0.001	0.03
Median of fluorescein staining (quartile range), grade	1.0 (0.75–1.25)	0 (0–0.25)	<0.001	<0.001
Median of impression cytology (range), grade	1.0 (1:2 to 1:6)	0.6 (1:2 to 1:4)	<0.001	<0.001

Notes: Mann-Whitney U-test; analysis of covariance for age adjustment;

a Student’s t-test for independent samples;

b chi-square test; result significant at P<0.05.

Abbreviations: OSDI, ocular surface disease index; SD, standard deviation; TBUT, tear film breakup time.

Table 2 Correlation between treatment variables (number of eye drops per day, duration of treatment) and OSDI score, as well as signs and symptoms of dry eye, in the glaucoma-treated group

	Number of eye drops per day		Duration of treatment
	r	P-value	r	P-value
OSDI, score	0.058	0.61	−0.165	0.147
Schirmer test, mm	−0.114	0.32	−0.217	0.055
TBUT, seconds	−0.278	0.014	−0.143	0.208
Fluorescein staining, grade	0.475	<0.001	0.095	0.406
Impression cytology, grade	0.164	0.149	0.150	0.187

Note: P significant at P<0.05.

Abbreviations: OSDI, ocular surface disease index; TBUT, tear film breakup time; r, Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient.

Figure 1 (A) Tear film breakup time (TBUT), (B) fluorescein staining, and (C) impression cytology grade among glaucoma patients with one (n=39 patients), two (n=10 patients), and three or more (n=30 patients) eye drops instilled per day.

Notes: The boundaries of each box indicate the first and third quartile, the bars 1.5 times the interquartile range, and the line within each box indicates the median. Open circles indicate outliers.