Ethnic differences between the Asian and Caucasian ocular surface: A co-located adult migrant population cohort study

Comprehensive profiling of Asian and Caucasian meibomian gland secretions reveals similar lipidomic signatures regardless of ethnicity

“…Nevertheless, the role of race in physiology and biochemistry of normal and abnormal MG remains an understudied topic. There are conflicting reports on the role of race/ethnicity in DES and MGD, some of which state that the diseases prevail in Asian population over the Caucasian one 24 , while the others claim the opposite 25 . Notably, much of the evidence that support this observation came from population-wide studies based largely on various questionnaires and routine ophthalmic tests such as Schirmer's tests, measurements of TF break-up time (TFBUT), cornea staining etc .…”

Evaluating the diagnostic utility of evaporative dry eye disease markers

“…The results showed that the discriminative ability of tear film lipid layer thickness, meibum quality, meibomian gland capping and eyelid telangiectasia grading were all significantly greater than chance, although lipid layer grade exhibited significant correlations across the broadest range of global dry eye disease markers as defined by the TFOS DEWS II criteria . The intrinsic functional reserve of the meibomian glands might potentially contribute to the poorer discriminative ability of gland dropout grading . Indeed, an earlier study reported that only 45% of meibomian glands were active in the healthy adult eye, at any one time, suggesting that a full area of functional glands might not be necessary to maintain tear film homeostasis …”

“…The Ocular Surface Disease Index symptomology questionnaire was administered, and tear film evaluation conducted with the Oculus Keratograph 5 M and TearLab osmometer to identify participants fulfilling the TFOS DEWS II dry eye diagnostic criteria (OSDI score ≥ 13, and at least one of: non‐invasive tear film breakup time < 10 seconds, tear osmolarity ≥308 mOsm/L, inter‐ocular difference in osmolarity >8 mOsm/L, corneal fluorescein staining >5 spots, conjunctival lissamine green staining >9 spots, or eyelid margin staining ≥2 mm length and ≥25% width) . Right eye evaporative disease markers, including lipid layer thickness, meibum quality, meibomian gland dropout and capping, and eyelid margin telangiectasia, were then evaluated using established grading schemes (Table ) . Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to assess the discriminative ability of evaporative disease markers in detecting an overall dry eye diagnosis, and the area under the curve (C‐statistic), Youden‐optimal diagnostic cut‐off, sensitivity and specificity calculated.…”

“…The intrinsic functional reserve of the meibomian glands might potentially contribute to the poorer discriminative ability of gland dropout grading . Indeed, an earlier study reported that only 45% of meibomian glands were active in the healthy adult eye, at any one time, suggesting that a full area of functional glands might not be necessary to maintain tear film homeostasis …”

Diagnostic profile of tear osmolarity and inter‐ocular variability for dry eye disease

“…Written consent was provided by 866 participants, satisfying diagnostic accuracy power calculations (sample size ≥ 814, estimated prevalence = 40%, anticipated sensitivity = 70%, confidence level = 95%, absolute precision = 5%, power = 80%). The 5‐Item Dry Eye Questionnaire and Ocular Surface Disease Index dry eye questionnaires were administered, and right eye ocular surface parameters (Oculus Keratograph 5M) assessed . An independent observer measured tear osmolarity from both eyes (TearLab Osmometer), and the higher reading and inter‐ocular difference was recorded .…”