Background: Dry eye is an emerging health hazard among the individuals exposed to Visual Display
Terminals (VDT). About one fourth of the patients who visit ophthalmic clinics or hospitals report
symptoms of dry eye, making it a growing public health problem and one of the most common
conditions seen by eye care practitioners. We have very few data regarding the frequency and risk
factors of dry eye diseases. But that informationis very important in treating patients with dry eye
diseases.
Aim of the study: The aim of this study was toobserve the frequency of dry eye disease (DED) among
ophthalmic patients.
Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted at Kurmitola General
Hospital, Dhaka,Bangladeshfrom January 2019 to December 2019. In total 278 patients 18+ years of
age attended to the mentioned hospital for ophthalmic treatment were finalized as the study population.
The study was approved by the ethical committee of the mentioned hospital. The proper written
consents were taken from all the participants before starting the main part of intervention. Data were
collected by predesigned questioner and analyzed by SPSS program version 22.0
Results: In analyzing the frequency of DED among 278 participants we found only 22%(n=62) were
DED whereas 78%(n=216) were free from DED. We found, the highest frequency of DED patients was
in >60 years’ age group which was 26.83%. Besides this 24.29%, 21.88%, 19.64% 19.15% in 21-30,
31-40, 41-50 and 51-60 years’ age groups respectively. In male group patient’s frequency was 28.28%
whereas in female group it was 15.79%. In this study in urban residence group the patient’s frequency
was 24% whereas in rural residence group it was 19.42%. We found33.87%, 20.97%, 17.74%,11.29%,
9.68% and 6.45% diseases frequencies inhousewives/student,workers with low exposure, indoor office
staffs,farmers /laborers, workers with high exposure, and factory worker’s groups respectively.
Conclusion: Near about one fifth of the ophthalmic patients suffered from dry eye diseases. Among the
ophthalmic patient’s possibilities of association of dry eye diseases is higher in aged, male, urban
housewives and/student.