Laryngoscope. 2009 Jun; 119(6): 1082-4Hetherington HE
To estimate the prevalence of dry eye and to investigate its relationship with lifestyle and systemic factors in a general adult population in north-western Spain. METHODS: A dry eye questionnaire was administered and objective tests were performed in 654 individuals [mean age (Standard deviation): 63.6 (14.4) years, range: 40-96, 37.2% males]. Subjects were considered symptomatic when one or more of the symptoms of the questionnaire were present often or all the time. Schirmer test or= 3 and fluorescein staining >or= 1 were considered indicative of signs. Dry eye was defined as the simultaneous presence of symptoms and at least one sign. A design based analysis was performed and all calculations were weighted to give unbiased estimates. RESULTS: Dry eye prevalence was 11.0% (95%confidence interval [CI] 8.6-13.3). Dry eye was found to be more frequent in women (11.9%, 95%CI 8.8-15.1) than in men (9.0%, 95%CI 5.3-12.6), and was significantly associated with aging (p autoimmune diseas...