» Articles » PMID: 37026287

Functional and Morphological Evaluation of the Meibomian Glands and Ocular Surface Assessment at High Altitude

Overview
Specialty Ophthalmology
Date 2023 Apr 7
PMID 37026287
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

Purpose: To compare the function and morphology of the meibomian glands and the ocular surface of individuals from highland and lowland.

Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial. The study was performed with 104 individuals (51 individuals from the highland and 53 individuals from the lowland). Detailed eye examinations comprising tear meniscus height, lipid layer grading, non-invasive Keratograph tear breakup time (NIKBUT), and scoring of the meibomian glands from the upper and lower eyelids of the individuals were performed by Keratograph 5M (OCULUS, Wetzlar, Germany). Symptoms related to dry eye disease were assessed using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI).

Results: In the highland group, tear meniscus height was lower (P = 0.024), lipid layer grade, as well as all the meiboscores were higher (P < 0.05) than that in the lowland group. The OSDI (P = 0.018) and the percentage of dry eye disease were also higher as compared to that of the lowland group (P = 0.032). The first NIKBUT and average NIKBUT did not differ significantly between groups. The frequency of plugged meibomian gland orifices was greater in the lowland group compared to the highland group (P = 0.036).

Conclusion: It was observed that dry eye disease was more common in the highland group. The morphological changes of meibomian gland dropout were significant in highlanders as demonstrated objectively with Keratograph 5M. Our study may raise a concern for environmental influences on ocular surface changes.

References
1.
Millar T, Schuett B . The real reason for having a meibomian lipid layer covering the outer surface of the tear film - A review. Exp Eye Res. 2015; 137:125-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.exer.2015.05.002. View

2.
Yanez-Soto B, Leonard B, Raghunathan V, Abbott N, Murphy C . Effect of Stratification on Surface Properties of Corneal Epithelial Cells. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016; 56(13):8340-8. PMC: 4699408. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.15-17468. View

3.
Willcox M, Argueso P, Georgiev G, Holopainen J, Laurie G, Millar T . TFOS DEWS II Tear Film Report. Ocul Surf. 2017; 15(3):366-403. PMC: 6035753. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtos.2017.03.006. View

4.
Gupta N, Prasad I, Himashree G, Dsouza P . Prevalence of dry eye at high altitude: a case controlled comparative study. High Alt Med Biol. 2009; 9(4):327-34. DOI: 10.1089/ham.2007.1055. View

5.
Argueso P, Gipson I . Epithelial mucins of the ocular surface: structure, biosynthesis and function. Exp Eye Res. 2001; 73(3):281-9. DOI: 10.1006/exer.2001.1045. View