Clinical evaluation of dry eyes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Urpose: To detect dry eye and to associate it with rheumatoid factor and severity of disease in rheumatoid arthritis. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional explorative study & study period December 2013 to October 2015. Fifty nine eyes of 30 patients diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis age > 18 years were included. Status of rheumatoid factor, severity of disease calculated with DAS28-ESR were noted and TBUT, Fluorescein staining and Schirmer's Test were done. Results: Out of 59 eyes 42.4% had TBUT <10> 5mm (mean 18.7 ± 6.8 mm). 42.4% were diagnosed with dry eye. Out of 51 eyes with positive rheumatoid factor 24 had dry eye but 1 out of 8 eyes with negative rheumatoid factor had dry eye (p=0.066). Mean severity score of disease based on DAS28-ESR was 2.9 in dry eye and 4.1 in patients without dry eye. Conclusion: Dry eye in rheumatoid Arthritis can be detected by simple tests and there is no statistically significant association between rheumatoid factor and dry eye. Dry eye is independent of severity of disease.