TY - JOUR
T1 - Rheumatoid Arthritis Associated with Dry Eye Disease and Corneal Surface Damage
T2 - A Nationwide Matched Cohort Study
AU - Lai, Shih Chung
AU - Wang, Chien Wun
AU - Wu, Yu Ming
AU - Dai, Ying Xiu
AU - Chen, Tzeng Ji
AU - Wu, Hsiang Ling
AU - Cherng, Yih Giun
AU - Tai, Ying Hsuan
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, grant number TMU110-AE1-B11. The APC was funded by Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - Rheumatoid arthritis is potentially connected to ocular disorders, such as corneal inflammation and lacrimal gland destruction. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of dry eye disease (DED) and corneal surface damage among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In a nationwide cohort study, we utilized Taiwan’s National Health Insurance research database and conducted propensity score matching to compare the risks of DED and corneal surface damage between patients with and without rheumatoid arthritis. Proportional hazards regression analyses were used to calculate the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the outcomes of interest. The matching procedure generated 33,398 matched pairs with 501,377 person-years of follow-up for analyses. The incidence of DED was 23.14 and 10.25 per 1000 person-years in patients with and without rheumatoid arthritis, respectively. After adjusting for covariates, rheumatoid arthritis was significantly associated with DED (aHR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.93–2.13, p < 0.0001). The association was generally consistent across the subgroups of age, sex, use of systemic corticosteroids, and different comorbidity levels. In addition, patients with rheumatoid arthritis had a higher risk of corneal surface damage (aHR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.21–1.51, p < 0.0001) compared to control subjects. Other independent factors for corneal surface damage were age and sleeping disorders. Rheumatoid arthritis was associated with an increased risk of DED and corneal surface damage. Ophthalmological surveillance is required to prevent vision-threatening complications in this susceptible population.
AB - Rheumatoid arthritis is potentially connected to ocular disorders, such as corneal inflammation and lacrimal gland destruction. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of dry eye disease (DED) and corneal surface damage among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In a nationwide cohort study, we utilized Taiwan’s National Health Insurance research database and conducted propensity score matching to compare the risks of DED and corneal surface damage between patients with and without rheumatoid arthritis. Proportional hazards regression analyses were used to calculate the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the outcomes of interest. The matching procedure generated 33,398 matched pairs with 501,377 person-years of follow-up for analyses. The incidence of DED was 23.14 and 10.25 per 1000 person-years in patients with and without rheumatoid arthritis, respectively. After adjusting for covariates, rheumatoid arthritis was significantly associated with DED (aHR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.93–2.13, p < 0.0001). The association was generally consistent across the subgroups of age, sex, use of systemic corticosteroids, and different comorbidity levels. In addition, patients with rheumatoid arthritis had a higher risk of corneal surface damage (aHR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.21–1.51, p < 0.0001) compared to control subjects. Other independent factors for corneal surface damage were age and sleeping disorders. Rheumatoid arthritis was associated with an increased risk of DED and corneal surface damage. Ophthalmological surveillance is required to prevent vision-threatening complications in this susceptible population.
KW - autoimmune disease
KW - corneal erosion
KW - keratoconjunctivitis sicca
KW - peripheral ulcerative keratitis
KW - risk factor
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20021584
DO - 10.3390/ijerph20021584
M3 - Article
C2 - 36674338
AN - SCOPUS:85146657071
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 20
JO - International journal of environmental research and public health
JF - International journal of environmental research and public health
IS - 2
M1 - 1584
ER -
