Serum Vitamin D Levels and Dry Eye Disease in Postmenopausal Women: A Case–Control Study at a Tertiary Care Center in Rural Haryana
Diksha Malik, Renu Garg, Sumita Sethi, Rajiv Mahendru, Sanjeet Singh- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Building and Construction
Background:
Despite the high prevalence of Vitamin-D insufficiency and high susceptibility to dry eye disease (DED) in postmenopausal women (PMW), correlation between DED and Vitamin D has not been explored in PMW in any Indian study.
Aims and Objectives:
To explore the correlation between serum Vitamin D levels in PMW with and without DED, in a hospital-based population in rural Haryana.
Materials and Methods:
Subjective (ocular surface disease index [OSDI] questionnaire) and objective clinical tests were undertaken for DED diagnosis. 25(OH) Vitamin D was measured in serum using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; insufficient (10–30 ng/ml) and deficient (<10 ng/ml). Descriptive statistics were analyzed by mean ± standard deviation for continuous and frequencies for the categorical variables; Student’s
Results:
One hundred and forty PMW (60.1 ± 5.32 years) were included; Group-A (Controls; no DED;
Conclusion:
There were significantly low levels of Vitamin-D in clinically established DED. Evaluating Vitamin D levels as a part of the dry eye workup in PMW is recommended. OSDI scores were not aligned with the clinical test scores; questionnaire-based tests alone may not be sufficient for diagnosing DED.