Dry eye disease substantially reduced all facets of sleep quality, reports a study in The Ocular Surface.1 Specifically, of 8.9% of the subjects who had dry eye disease, 36.4% reported poor sleep quality vs. 24.8% of the controls. Additionally, dry eye remained linked with poor sleep, after correcting for comorbidities, such as psychiatric disorders, and this was noted regardless of the age and sex of the subjects. Further, those who had dry eye had worse scores on all facets of a sleep quality index, with close to 44% of those with symptoms reporting poor sleep quality as “often” or “constantly.” Also, the researchers found that an increasing frequency of dry eye symptoms was associated with an increased preponderance of poor sleep quality.

The study was comprised of 71,761 participants, ages 19 to 94, with 59.4% female, who were from the Netherlands. They were assessed for dry eye via a questionnaire, and logistic regression was employed to determine the link between poor sleep quality and dry eye, while correcting for age, education, income, sex, and 51 possible confounding comorbidities, including autoimmune diseases and psychiatric disorders.CP

1. Magno MS, Utheim TP, Snieder H, Hammond CJ, Vehof J. The relationship between dry eye and sleep quality. The Ocul Surf. 2021;20:13-19. doi:10.1016/j.jtos.2020.12.009