title: Prevalence of dry eye among adult Chinese in the Beijing Eye Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the prevalence and associations of dry eye symptoms in adult Chinese.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Beijing Eye Study is a population-based study in northern China, which included 4439 of 5324 subjects invited to participate with an age of 40+ years (response rate: 83.4%). For the present study, a random sample was taken consisting of 1957(44.1%) subjects (1112 women; 56.9%). Dry eye symptoms were evaluated with (1) an interviewer-assisted questionnaire; (2) measurement of the tear-film break-up time; (3) assessment of the fluorescein staining of the cornea; (4) slit-lamp-based examination of a meibomian gland dysfunction; and (5) Schirmer's test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Symptoms of a dry eye felt 'often' or 'at all times' were present in 411 subjects (21.0%). In a multivariate analysis, dry eye symptoms were significantly associated with age (P<0.001), female gender (P<0.001; odds ratio (OR): 1.56; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.23, 1.98), urban region (P<0.001;OR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.46, 2.48), low degree of nuclear cataract (P=0.02), and undercorrection of refractive error (P=0.005; OR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.82). All tests for dry eye did not vary significantly between the dry eye group and the normal group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dry eye symptoms as evaluated subjectively in a questionnaire occurred in about 21% of the adult population in China, with associations to age, female gender, urban region, and undercorrection of a refractive error. Measurement of the tear-film break-up time, assessment of the corneal fluorescein staining, slit-lamp-based examination of a meibomian gland dysfunction, and Schirmer's test were not significantly associated with dry eye symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jie
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Y Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Jonas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data