Abstract
Background: Dry Eye Disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease of the interpalpebral ocular surface and tear film that
leads to discomfort, fatigue and disturbance in vision. DED affects patients’ quality of life and leads eventually to
decrease of productivity. Moreover, it has a considerable socioeconomic burden. It is a growing underdiagnosed
health issue and the possible associated risk factors are very common and keep growing worldwide.
Purpose: To assess the prevalence of DED and potential associated risk factors in the Northern West Bank of
Palestine.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in 16 selected towns in Northern West Bank governorates during
December 2016 to September 2017. An interviewer-assisted Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire was
used to study DED symptoms in the study population. Further evaluation of clinical signs of DED was performed
using the following objective tests: tear film break-up time (TBUT), fluorescein corneal staining (FL/S) and Schirmer
test. Subjects with an OSDI score of 13 or above were considered symptomatic of DED, and DED was defined if an
OSDI score ≥ 13 is accompanied by at least one of the following signs in the worse eye: TBUT ≤10 s, Schirmer
score ≤ 5mm and fluorescein corneal staining ≥ grade 1.
Results: Seven hundred sixty-nine subjects were recruited from the general non-clinical population in the West
Bank. The mean age of participants was 43.61 ± 18.57 years ranging from 18 to 90 years. Females constitute 52.7%
of the study population. Based on the diagnostic criteria, the prevalence of DED was 64% (95% confidence interval
60.6–67.3). DED was significantly associated with female gender p = (0.001) and older age p = (0.001).
Conclusion: The prevalence of DED is high in the study population. Older age and female gender were associated
risk factors with the development of DED.

Title

BMC Ophthalmology

Publisher

springer publishing company

Publisher Country

United Kingdom

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

1.67

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

20

Year

2020

Pages

26