Correlation between ocular surface disease index and dry eye signs

Background: Dry eye is a multifactorial disease of the tears and ocular surface that results in symptoms of discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability with potential damage to the ocular surface. The purpose of the research was to examine the relation between Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and dry eye signs. Methods: Thirty dry eye patients were asked to fill OSDI questionnaire, which is a standardised instrument for dry eye symptom evaluation. All patients were previously diagnosed with dry eye disease on the basis of an abnormal Schirmer's test 1 result (< 10 mm) and subjective symptoms. Dry eye signs were assessed by fluorescein tear break-up time (FTBUT), Schirmer's test 1, corneal fluorescein staining, lissamine green staining and inter blink interval (IBI). All clinical tests were performed on the same day. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the correlation between OSDI and dry eye signs. Results: There was no statistically significant correlation between OSDI and dry eye signs. Conclusions: The results of our study showed poor association between dry eye symptoms and signs. Further studies with larger number of patients have to be done to understand the relationship between subjective symptoms and clinical tests in dry eye disease.