This is a summary of research into perceptions of dry eye symptoms done in the Republic of Korea.
This study is significant as it is the first to focus and compare symptomatic differences in dry eyes between people with Sjögren’s and people without Sjögren’s.
It is also important as it shows that while people with Sjögren’s syndrome have more severe dry eyes than people without, their perceptions of eye discomfort may be altered.
“Clinicians should be aware that patients may complain less of their discomfort” while having a particularly severe case of dry eye disease, researchers noted.
Dry eye disease (DED) is a common condition on the surface of the eyes that deteriorates the quality of daily life for those with it. The symptoms include eye irritation, a feeling of grittiness, itching, light sensitivity, blurred vision, and eye fatigue.
People with Sjögren’s experience DED symptoms due to a problem in the moisture-producing glands but there are many other causes of DED.
Previous studies have shown that patients with the same clinical assessment of DED severity may have entirely different perceptions of discomfort. The variable underlying causes of DED and/or individual differences in sensory nerve function could be involved in these different responses.
In this study, the perception of DED symptoms of 276 people, including 55 patients with primary Sjögren’s and 221 people without the disease was investigated.
Perceived eye discomfort was evaluated using the ocular surface disease index questionnaire (OSDI), with higher scores indicating more discomfort.
People without Sjögren’s had higher average OSDI scores compared with Sjögren’s patients. However, the Sjögren’s patients showed overall worse disease severity compared with other DED patients.
Researchers discovered that Sjögren’s patients had indicators of more severe DED including:
- higher ocular staining scores, indicating more severe eye damage.
- reduced tear production, measured by the Schirmer test.
- more corneal surface erosion, or damage to the eye’s outer layer.
The results of the study suggest that while Sjögren’s patients have clinically worse DED, they do not perceive their symptoms to be as severe as do non-Sjögren’s patients.
As a possible explanation for this, the team proposed that stress relief signaling pathways may be activated in Sjögren’s patients to counter the effects of prolonged and severe eye damage and inflammation.
“Chronic and prolonged inflammatory stimulation in the ocular surface may paradoxically induce discomfort-relieving signals in [Sjögren’s],” the researchers wrote.
“An advanced understanding of symptomatology in DED beyond clinicians’ observation would further improve patients’ quality of life.”
In conclusion, the perception of dry eye symptoms was different between patients with and without SS. Relatively low OSDI scores and the feature of ocular discomfort in SS suggest that chronic and prolonged inflammatory stimulation in the ocular surface may paradoxically induce discomfort-relieving signals in SS. Therefore, it would be important to pay attention to pSS patients, as their clinical parameters of DED might be worse when they perceive fewer symptoms.
Kim, M., Chun, Y.S. & Kim, K.W. Different perception of dry eye symptoms between patients with and without primary Sjogren’s syndrome. Sci Rep 12, 2172 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06191-x
Comments
Post a Comment