New Study Says More than 4 Percent of Older Men
Suffer with Dry Eye Disease
But, National Eye Institute says older women twice as
likely as men to suffer with dry eye
June 8, 2009 - Dry eye
disease is common among American men older than 50 and increases with
age, high blood pressure, benign prostate disease and the use of
antidepressants, according to a new report. The National Eye Institute,
however, has estimated that older women are twice as likely to suffer
with dry eye as are men.
(See report from National Eye Institute below news
report.)
This study, however, focused only on older men and
is published in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one
of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Dry eye is one of the most common eye diseases and
reason that older adults seek eye care, according to background
information in the article.
"It is an important public health problem,
causing increased risk of ocular infections and bothersome symptoms of
ocular discomfort, fatigue and visual disturbance that interfere with
crucial activities such as reading, working on a computer and driving a
car," the authors write.
Debra A. Schaumberg, Sc.D., O.D., M.P.H., of
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and
colleagues estimated the prevalence of and examined risk factors for dry
eye disease among 25,444 U.S. men who participated in the Physicians'
Health Study I and II.
The men were asked if they had ever been diagnosed
with dry eye disease and also whether they had symptoms, including dry
or irritated eyes.
Overall, 765 men (3 percent) reported being
diagnosed with dry eye, 6.8 percent experienced at least one symptom
(dryness or irritation) constantly or often and 2.2 percent reported
both symptoms constantly or often.
The total age-standardized prevalence of dry eye
disease among men 50 and older was estimated to be 4.34 percent.
Men 75 years and older were more likely to have the
conditionprevalence increased from 3.9 percent among men age 50 to 54
to 7.7 percent among men age 80 and older.
High blood pressure, benign prostatic hyperplasia
(a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate) and the use of medications
to treat depression, hypertension or hyperplasia were also associated
with an increased risk of dry eye disease.
"The present study estimates that approximately
1.68 million men 50 years and older are affected with dry eye disease in
the United States," the authors write.
"These data, derived from studying more than 25,000
men, show a significantly lower prevalence of dry eye disease than was
found in a similar study using the same methods in U.S. women, among
whom the prevalence was estimated at 3.23 million women.
Nonetheless, there is a significant increase in
the prevalence of dry eye disease with age among men, as is the case
among women, and there is a predicted growth to 2.79 million U.S. men
affected by dry eye disease in 2030."
"Given the increasing recognition of the adverse
visual impact of dry eye disease, and the high level of bother patients
report because of its irritative symptoms, we hope that these data from
a large and well-characterized group of U.S. men will provide further
motivation for clinicians and researchers to understand this disease and
develop more effective and targeted interventions for patients," they
conclude.
Editor's Note: This work was supported by
National Institutes of Health grants and the Joint Clinical Research
Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Schepens Eye Research
Institute, Boston.
About Dry Eye
By National Eye Institute of the National
Institutes of Heatlh
What is dry eye?
Dry eye occurs when the eye does not produce tears
properly, or when the tears are not of the correct consistency and
evaporate too quickly.
In addition, inflammation of the surface of the eye
may occur along with dry eye. If left untreated, this condition can lead
to pain, ulcers, or scars on the cornea, and some loss of vision.
However, permanent loss of vision from dry eye is uncommon.
Dry eye can make it more difficult to perform some
activities, such as using a computer or reading for an extended period
of time, and it can decrease tolerance for dry environments, such as the
air inside an airplane.
Who is likely to develop dry eye?
Elderly people frequently experience dryness of the
eyes, but dry eye can occur at any age. Nearly five million Americans 50
years of age and older are estimated to have dry eye. Of these, more
than three million are women and more than one and a half million are
men. Tens of millions more have less severe symptoms. Dry eye is more
common after menopause. Women who experience menopause prematurely are
more likely to have eye surface damage from dry eye.
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More at National Eye Institute
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Complete Report on Dry Eye (pdf) by
National Eye Institute
