Incidence and risk factors of symptomatic dry eye disease in Asian Malays from the Singapore Malay Eye Study

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the incidence of symptomatic dry eye disease (SDED) and associated risk factors in a well-characterized cohort of ethnic Malays in Singapore. Methods We included 1682 participants (mean age [SD]: 57 [10]years; 55.4% female) without SDED from the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES), a population-based longitudinal study with baseline examination (SiMES-1) conducted between 2004 and 2006, and follow-up examination (SiMES-2) conducted between 2010 and 2013. SDED was considered to be present if a participant answered “often” or “all the time” to any of the six questions from the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Study dry eye questionnaire. Age-standardized incidence of SDED was calcula..