Identification of Subtypes of Dry Eye Disease, Including a Candidate Corneal Neuropathic Pain Subtype Through the Use of a Latent Class Analysis.

Purpose: In the absence of a gold-standard diagnostic test for different subtypes of dry eye disease (DED), we aimed to identify latent subtypes of DED within a well-characterized cohort.
Design: This is a cross-sectional study of participants enrolled in the Sjögren International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA).
Methods: A latent class analysis was applied to different dry eye-related signs/tests and symptoms of ocular pain (particularly those that aligned with corneal neuropathic pain) giving relative specificities and sensitivities of each diagnostic test or symptom in the SICCA population.
Results: Four subtypes of DED were identified with putative designations including normal, asymptomatic dry eye, symptomatic dry eye, and corneal neuropathic pain.
Conclusions: More specific classification criteria are needed for DED. Latent class analysis applied to the signs and symptoms captured in the SICCA cohort may allow for the development and refinement of classification criteria for specific subtypes of dry eye.
Competing Interests: The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.
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