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 calcu..