Dry eye disease harms work productivity

Dry eye disease (DED), whether related to Sjögren’s Syndrome or not, disrupts several parameters of work productivity, a recent study has found.

“Although the dry eye population is quite heterogeneous, our meta-analyses have demonstrated that dry eye has a bearing on absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity impairment, and activity impairment in non-Sjögren’s DED and Sjögren’s Syndrome.”

Drawing from the online databases of Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Healthstar, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 31 eligible studies contributing a total of 50,446 participants.

Patients with non-Sjögren’s DED showed significant absenteeism (effect size, 0.19, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.04–0.35) and presenteeism (effect size, 0.25, 95 percent CI, 0.15–0.35), defined as missed work and impairment at work due to dry eye, respectively.

Similarly, productivity (effect size, 0.24, 95 percent CI, 0.20-0.27) and activity (effect size, 0.30, 95 percent CI, 0.21–0.38) impairments were significant in non-Sjögren’s dry eye, as were subjective difficulties at work (effect size, 0.58, 95 percent CI, 0.40–0.75).

Similar findings were reported for Sjögren’s Syndrome, such that absenteeism (effect size, 0.13, 95 percent CI, 0.10–0.17), presenteeism (effect size, 0.28, 95 percent CI, 0.24–0.32), productivity impairments (effect size, 0.31, 95 percent CI, 0.27–0.35), and activity impairments (effect size, 0.39, 95 percent CI, 0.32–0.47) were all significant.

Notably, Sjögren’s Syndrome patients also saw significantly lower employment rates (effect size, 0.42, 95 percent CI, 0.34–0.50), greater work disability (effect size, 0.18, 95 percent CI, 0.09–0.27), and lower number of hours worked (standardized mean difference, –0.21, 95 percent CI, –0.39 to –0.02).