Incidence, demographics, types and risk factors of dry eye disease in India: Electronic medical records driven,  big data analytics report

 Abstract

 Purpose

To
describe the incidence, demographics, types and risk-factors of dry eye disease
(DED) in patients presenting to a multi-tier ophthalmology hospital network in
India.

 Methods

This
was an observational hospital-based study of 1,458,830 new patients presenting
between 2010 and 2018. Patients with recent onset of both symptoms and signs,
as defined by the tear film and ocular surface society dry eye work shop (TFOS
DEWS) II guidelines, were considered as DED subjects. The data was
prospectively collected using an electronic medical record system. Multiple
logistic regression with odds ratio (OR) estimation was performed to identify
the high risk-factors of DED.

 Results

Overall,
21,290 (1.46%) patients were diagnosed with recent-onset DED. The incidence of
DED was 2688 and 16,482 per million population in children and adults,
respectively (p < 0.0001). While incidence was significantly greater in
males in 3rd, 4th, 9th and 10th decade (p < 0.03), it was greater in females
in 5th and 6th decade (p < 0.0001) of life. Classified etiologically 35.5%,
20.6% and 39.9% of patients had evaporative, aqueous deficient and mixed type
of DED, respectively. Age (OR 3.7–13.5), urban residence (OR 1.6), professional
work (OR 1.5); homemaking (OR 1.42), retirement/unemployment (OR 1.24) and
socio-economic affluence (OR 1.6–3.2) were identified as high risk-factors for
developing DED.

 Conclusion

The study results indicate that age, sex, residence, occupation, and socio-economic status have significant impact on development of DED. Since India is an emerging economy with a growing middle-class, increasing urban-migration and large aging population, the country is on the brink of a DED epidemic.

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