[Prevalence of dry eye in Hansen's disease patients from a colony hospital in Goiânia, Brazil].
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of dry eye in Hansen's disease patients from the "Hospital de Dermatologia Sanitária de Goiânia".


METHODS
The sample of the present study included 70 patients with Hansen's disease, from the "Hospital de Dermatologia Sanitária de Goiânia", and 30 controls, from the "Fundação Banco de Olhos de Goiás", both located in Goiânia-GO, Brazil. Ophthalmologic examination and Schirmer I, break-up time (BUT) and rose Bengal staining tests were carried out for all patients in a single evaluation. For the diagnosis of dry eye the Schirmer I equal or less than 5 mm and rose Bengal grade II or III, in at least one eye were considered.


RESULTS
Forty-four (63.0%) patients with Hansen's disease were male and 22 (73.3%) controls were female (p=0.001). The mean age of the patients with Hansen's disease was 61.1+/-12.5 years and in the control group, it was 55.7+/-9.6 years. Fifteen (21.4%) patients with Hansen's disease and four (13.3%) controls presented with dry eye diagnosis (p=0.429). The lepromatous type (74.2%) of Hansen's disease was the most prevalent and dry eye (66.7%) was more frequent in this clinical form of the disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The dry eye disease was more prevalent in patients with Hansen's disease, although the difference was not statistically significant.
Frazão
Karys Carvalho
KC
Hospital de Dermatologia Sanitária de Goiânia, GO. kacaf@hotmail.com
Picolo
Naira Bernardes
NB
Hanouche
Rosana Zacarias
RZ
Santos
Procópio Miguel dos
PM
Santos
Regina Cândido Ribeiro dos
RC
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012395:Rose Bengal; D012737:Sex Factors; D013666:Tears / Q000502:physiology*
D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D012395:Rose Bengal