Osteoporosis and dry eye syndrome: A previously unappreciated association that may alert active prevention of fall

Association of self-reported psychiatric and systemic risk factors in dry eye disease in adult Korean population

PURPOSE

To evaluate the association between dry eye disease (DED) and various psychiatric and systemic diseases in an adult Korean population aged 40 years or older.

METHODS

Population-based cross-sectional data of 6,732 participants aged ≥40 years was extracted from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018 (KNHANES VII). Data including DED, demographic variables, behavioral factors, psychiatric conditions, and systemic diseases was analysed to determine the prevalence and psychiatric and systemic risk factors for DED.

RESULTS

The weighted prevalence of DED was 7.9 ± 0.4% (mean ± SE). Multivariate analysis showed that female sex and urban residence were associated with an increased risk of DED. The prevalence of DED was lower in patients aged ≥70 years than in those aged 40-69 years. Self-reported psychological conditions including perceived stress and depression were associated with the risk of DED. Self-reported Systemic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative arthritis, osteoporosis, ischemic heart disease, and chronic renal failure had association with an increased risk of DED.

CONCLUSION

DED may be associated with several self-reported psychiatric and systemic conditions, which highlights the need for an integrated approach to manage these diseases for optimal treatment of DED.

Identified risk factors for dry eye syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

A meta-analytic approach was used to identify potential risk factors for dry eye syndrome. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane library were systematically searched for studies investigated the risk factors for dry eye syndrome from their inception until September 2021. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using the random-effects model. Forty-eight studies comprising 493,630 individuals were included. Older age (OR: 1.82; P<0.001), female sex (OR: 1.56; P<0.001), other race (OR: 1.27; P<0.001), visual display terminal use (OR: 1.32; P<0.001), cataract surgery (OR: 1.80; P<0.001), contact lens wear (OR: 1.74; P<0.001), pterygium (OR: 1.85; P = 0.014), glaucoma (OR: 1.77; P = 0.007), eye surgery (OR: 1.65; P<0.001), depression (OR: 1.83; P<0.001), post-traumatic stress disorder (OR: 1.65; P<0.001), sleep apnea (OR: 1.57; P = 0.003), asthma (OR: 1.43; P<0.001), allergy (OR: 1.38; P<0.001), hypertension (OR: 1.12; P = 0.004), diabetes mellitus (OR: 1.15; P = 0.019), cardiovascular disease (OR: 1.20; P<0.001), stroke (OR: 1.32; P<0.001), rosacea (OR: 1.99; P = 0.001), thyroid disease (OR: 1.60; P<0.001), gout (OR: 1.40; P<0.001), migraines (OR: 1.53; P<0.001), arthritis (OR: 1.76; P<0.001), osteoporosis (OR: 1.36; P = 0.030), tumor (OR: 1.46; P<0.001), eczema (OR: 1.30; P<0.001), and systemic disease (OR: 1.45; P = 0.007) were associated with an increased risk of dry eye syndrome. This study reported risk factors for dry eye syndrome, and identified patients at high risk for dry eye syndrome.

Retrospective evaluation of the curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine on dry eye disease

Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial illness with an increasingly high global prevalence and multiple risk factors that widely influences patients’ daily lives. It is essential to identify treatments with few or no side effects for patients with DED. We have reviewed studies published from 2001 to 2020 that investigated traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and integrated Chinese and Western medicine for DED treatment. Current Chinese medicines used in DED therapy were categorized into four types, namely anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, hormone-like agents, and cell-repairing agents. Compound herbs, including Chi-Ju-Di-Huang-Wan and Qiming granule, can effectively alleviate dry eye symptoms. Moreover, patients with DED who were treated with Western medicine combined with TCM experienced significantly magnified therapeutic effects and reasonable costs of treatment. In conclusion, TCM can be a promising approach for treating DED, and combined treatment with TCM and Western drugs may represent a new strategy for improving the curative effect.

Association of the Risk of Primary Sjögren's Syndrome With Fibrocystic Breast Disease: A Nationwide, Population-Based Study

Objective: Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is characterized by exocrine glandular inflammation; however, the association between preceding mammary-gland-inflammation-related diseases and newly diagnosed pSS remains unexplored.

Methods: We used the 2003–2013 data retrieved from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) to conduct the present population-based study. We identified newly diagnosed pSS female patients during the 2001–2013 period, as well as age-matched (1:20) and propensity-score-matched (1:2) non-SS individuals (as controls). We explored the associations between pSS and a history of mastitis and fibrocystic breast disease by determining adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using a conditional logistical regression analysis after controlling for potential confounders.

Results: We identified 9,665 patients with pSS and 193,300 age-matched non-SS controls, as well as 9,155 SS cases and 18,310 propensity-score-matched non-SS controls. We found that fibrocystic breast disease (aOR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.63–1.88) were independently associated with incident SS, whereas mastitis and childbirth-associated breast infections were not associated with incident SS. We also found positive associations between SS and previously reported SS-associated diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, thyroid diseases, pancreatitis, bronchiectasis, infectious diseases, osteoporosis, and ankylosing spondylitis. In the propensity-score-matched populations, the associations between pSS and fibrocystic breast disease (aOR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.58–1.91) remained consistent.

Conclusion: The present population-based study revealed a previously unexplored association between pSS and history of fibrocystic breast disease, and the finding highlights the need to survey pSS in patients with mammary-gland-inflammation-associated diseases.

Risk of Dry Eye Syndrome in Patients with Orbital Fracture: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

This study aimed to investigate whether orbital fracture increases the risk of dry eye syndrome (DES) and identified the profile of prognostic factors. We studied a cohort from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Overall, 46,179 and 184,716 participants were enrolled in the study and control groups, respectively. Each patient in the case group was age- and gender-matched to four individuals without orbital fracture that served as the control group. Cox proportional hazards analysis regression was used to estimate the risks of incident DES. During the follow-up period, the case group was more likely to develop incident DES (0.17%) than the control group (0.11%) (p = 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that the case group had a 4.917-fold increased risk of DES compared to the controls. In the stratified age group, orbital fracture had the highest impact on patients aged 18–29 years. Furthermore, patients with orbital roof fracture have a greater risk of developing DES. Regardless of whether having received surgery or not, the patients with orbital fracture have higher risks of DES. Our study demonstrated that orbital fracture increases the risk of developing subsequent DES. Early recognition by thorough examinations with raised awareness in the clinical setting could preserve visual function and prevent further complications.

Dry Eye Disease: A Review of Epidemiology in Taiwan, and its Clinical Treatment and Merits

Dry eye disease (DED) has become common on a global scale in recent years. There is a wide prevalence of DED in different countries based on various ethnicities and environment. DED is a multifactorial ocular disorder. In addition to advanced age and gender, such factors as living at high altitude, smoking, pterygium, prolonged use of consumer electronics or overingesting of caffeine or multivitamins are considered to be the major risk factors of DED. We report the DED epidemiology in Taiwan firstly in this article. According to the pathophysiological factors and changes inthe composition of the tear film in DED, it can be categorized into several subtypes, including lipid anomaly dry eye, aqueous tear deficiency, allergic and toxic dry eye among others. Each subtype has its own cause and disease management; therefore, it is important for ophthalmologists to identify the type through literature review and investigation. The management of DED, relies not only on traditional medications such as artificial tears, gels and ointments, but also newer treatment options such as acupuncture, SYL1001, and nanomedicine therapy. We also conducted a comprehensive literature review including common subtypes and treatment of DED. Clearly, more clinical trials are needed to assess the efficacy and safety of the various treatments and common subtypes of DED.