DOES THE SEVERITY OF OBESITY AFFECT THE FREQUENCY OF DRY EYE AND INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE IN PATIENTS WITH METABOLIC SYNDROME?

Abstract

Introduction: While glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness in the world, dry eye is an eye disease that has negative effects on quality of life. In this study, the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and intraocular pressure and dry eye disease was investigated in obese patients with metabolic syndrome (MS). Material and methods: A total of 242 obese patients with MS were enrolled the study. These patients were divided according to BMI into three groups: first group (n=80, BMI=30-39.9 kg/m(2)), second group (n=125, BMI=40-49.9 kg/m(2)) and third group (n=37, BMI = 50 kg/m(2)). Intraocular blood pressure was measured. The corrections were made for central corneal thickness. For the diagnosis of dry eye disease, the classic Schirmer method was applied. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of age and gender distribution (p=0.170). There was a significant difference in terms of intraocular pressure values between the groups (p<0.001). Mean intraocular pressure was higher in group 3 than others. While dry eye was detected in only one case in both first (1.2%) and second (0.8%) groups, there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of Schirmer test results (p=0.420) and dry eye disease (p=0.320). Conclusion: We found high intraocular pressure in severe obesity patients (RMI >= kg/m(2)). Severe obesity may pose an important risk for glaucoma. The rate of dry eye disease observed in our study was close to the rate of dry eye disease in the general population, and was not correlated with severity of obesity.