Characterization of ocular surface symptoms from optometric practices in North America

Purpose. This study characterized ocular symptoms typical of dry eye in an unselected optometric clinical population in the United States and Canada. Methods. Self-administered dry eye questionnaires, one for non-contact lens wearers (dry eye questionnaire) and one for contact lens wearers (contact lens dry eye questionnaire), were completed at six clinical sites in North America. Both questionnaires included categoric scales to measure the preva lence, frequency, diurnal severity, and intrusiveness of nine ocular surfac e symptoms. The questionnaires also asked how much these ocular symptoms af fected daily activities and contained questions about computer use, medicat ions, and allergies. The examining doctors, who were masked to questionnair e responses, recorded a nondirected dry eye diagnosis for each patient, bas ed on their own diagnostic criteria. Results. The dry eye questionnaires we re completed by 1,054 patients. The most common ocular symptom was discomfo rt, with 64% of non-contact lens wearers and 79% of contact lens wearers re porting the symptom at least infrequently. There was a diurnal increase in the intensity of many symptoms, with symptoms such as discomfort, dryness, and visual changes reported to be more intense in the evening. The 22% perc ent of non-contact lens wearers and 15% of contact lens wearers diagnosed w ith dry eye (most in the mild to moderate categories) reported symptoms at a greater frequency than those not diagnosed with dry eye. Conclusions. Our results show that symptoms of ocular irritation and visual disturbances we re relatively common in this unselected clinical population. The intensity of many ocular symptoms increased late in the day, which suggested that env ironmental factors played a role in the etiology of the symptoms.