Prevalence and Determinants of Symptomatic Dry Eye Disease Among Adult Urban Residents of High-Altitude Areas of Southwest Saudi Arabia - A Survey

Saad Abbas Aldawsari; Nazih Alzaidi; Maram E A Abdalla Elsayed; Abdullah Ahmed Alhammadi; Hadeel Khaled Alharthi; Abdulrahman Alosaimi; Yahya Al-Najmi

doi:10.2147/OPTH.S427101

Prevalence and Determinants of Symptomatic Dry Eye Disease Among Adult Urban Residents of High-Altitude Areas of Southwest Saudi Arabia - A Survey

Clin Ophthalmol. 2023 Sep 11:17:2687-2695. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S427101. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Saad Abbas Aldawsari¹, Nazih Alzaidi², Maram E A Abdalla Elsayed³, Abdullah Ahmed Alhammadi⁴, Hadeel Khaled Alharthi¹, Abdulrahman Alosaimi⁵, Yahya Al-Najmi⁶

Affiliations

¹ Ophthalmology Department, King Faisal Medical Complex, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
² Ophthalmology Department, Alhada Military Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
³ Ophthalmology Department, Jeddah Eye Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Ophthalmology Department, Asir Central hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Ophthalmology Department, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Ophthalmology Department, Saggaf Eye Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence and determinants of Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) score based dry eye disease (DED) among the adult urban population of four cities located at high altitudes in Southwest Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey was held in 2023. OSDI questionnaire was used to collect the responses of the adult participants. The score was further graded into none, mild, moderate, and severe DED to estimate age-sex-adjusted DED prevalence. The OSDI score was correlated to demographic (age group, gender, education, occupation, city) and risk factors like smoking and co-morbidities.

Results: Of the 401 adults, 388 (response rate of 97.8%) participated. The age-sex-adjusted prevalence of mild, moderate, and severe DED was 21.7%, 13.1%, and 32%, respectively. The median ODSI score was 22.9 [Interquartile range (IQR) 10.4; 47.9)]. The score was significantly higher in females (Mann-Whitney U-test P = 0.038), residents of Taif city (KW P = 0.05), those with primary/middle school education (Kruskal-Wallis P = 0.004), comorbidities like hypertension, asthma (KW P < 0.001) and risk factors like past refractive surgeries, arthritis (KW P = 0.013). Education status (P <0.001) [B = -9.0 95%] and presence of comorbidity (P = 0.022), [B = -0.823] were significant predictors of DED.

Conclusion: The prevalence of DED and severe grade was high. The level of education and presence of comorbidities significantly influenced DED in the adult urban Saudi population of cities at high altitudes.

Keywords: Ocular Surface Disease Index; dry eye disease.