Dry Eye Disease Prevalence & Risk Factors (Agenda Series Part.01)

“Prevalence of dry eye syndrome”

Hello, this is easy-to-understand ophthalmology. This is Easy-I.

This is the first series of all about dry eye syndrome.

As medicine and science advance, technology for diagnosing dry eye syndrome also develops.

Dry eye syndrome is a disease that many people suffer from more than you can imagine.

A number of factors have also been associated with dry eye syndrome.

Today, before the full-fledged dry eye syndrome,

how many people have dry eye syndrome (prevalence),

Let’s find out what factors (risk factors) are related to dry eye syndrome.

Prevalence of dry eye syndrome

There is a lack of large-scale studies on dry eye syndrome, and the results vary from study to study.

The prevalence of dry eye syndrome has been reported from as low as 5% to as high as 34% of the total population.

A very large study conducted in the United States

The prevalence of dry eye syndrome in women over 50 years of age has been reported to be about 8% .

In 2007, the International Dry Eye Association defined dry eye syndrome as follows.

“Multifactorial diseases of the tear and ocular surface”

In other words, it is a disorder of the tear and ocular surface caused by various factors.

This leads to increased tear osmotic pressure and increased inflammation of the ocular surface .

This causes eye discomfort, blurred vision, and other symptoms.

I will explain in detail later

There are three main types of dry eye syndrome.

1. evaporative
   
   tears evaporate quickly
   
   
2. lack of moisture
   
   Poor tear formation
   
   
3. complexity
   
   The above two work in combination

The most common form is evaporative dry eye syndrome , followed by complications.

In evaporative dry eye syndrome, disorders of the meibomian glands, which are oil glands in the eyelids, play a major role .

risk factor

Numerous studies have been conducted to elucidate the factors associated with dry eye syndrome.

Overall, the most relevant factors were age and gender (female) .

In addition, decrease or change in hormones in the body, systemic diseases, infections, chemotherapy, ophthalmic surgery, drug use, nutritional deficiency, surrounding environment, etc.

A wide variety of factors are associated with dry eye syndrome.

As such, dry eye syndrome may have different causes and aggravation factors for each patient.

You should develop a treatment plan that fits the cause .

concluding

until now

The prevalence of dry eye syndrome and various factors were investigated.

Prior to the extensive content on dry eye syndrome, which will begin in the future,

I just wanted to point out that dry eye syndrome is so common and has many different causes.

In the next post

Let’s look at the mechanism of dry eye syndrome and its detailed classification .

For all diseases, treatment according to the cause is important.

Thanks for reading this long post,

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