Dry eye associated with poor sleep

Sleep quality was significantly reduced in patients with dry eye after correcting for comorbidities, according to a study.

Of the 71,761 individuals assessed in this large population-based cohort study, 8.9% had dry eye. Poor sleep quality was found in 36.4% of those with dry eye compared with 24.8% of controls.

After correcting for age, sex, BMI, education, income, and 51 possible confounding comorbidities, the association between dry eye and poor sleep remained.

All subcomponents of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores were worse for patients with dry eye. Of those with dry eye symptoms, 44.9% reported that they “often” or “constantly” had poor sleep quality. An increase in the dry eye symptoms was also linked to an increase in the occurrence of poor sleep quality.

Reference
Magno MS, Utheim TP, Snieder H, et al. The relationship between dry eye and sleep quality. Ocul Surf.  2021; 20:13-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtos.2020.12.009.