The Deterioration of Meibomian Gland Over the Duration of Sjögren Syndrome

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between Sjögren syndrome (SS) duration and ocular surface parameters in patients with SS-related dry eye. Methods: We analyzed 108 eyes of 108 female patients with primary SS-related dry eye. Meibomian gland (MG) dysfunction, MG dropout, lipid layer thickness (LLT), partial and total blinking, and partial blinking rate (PBR) were measured using a LipiView® II ocular surface interferometer (TearScience, Morrisville, NC, USA). All patients underwent rheumatoid serologic tests and ocular surface assessments. The ocular surface assessment included the Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness (SPEED), Schirmer’s I test, non-invasive tear break-up time, and grading of corneal/conjunctival staining. The correlations between SS duration and MG dropout rates as well as other ocular surface parameters were determined. Results: The mean SS duration was 54.1±41.3 months. There was a strong positive correlation between SS duration and MG dropout (r = 0.766, p < 0.001). The average, maximum, and minimum LLTs showed a weak negative correlation with SS duration (r = -0.310, -0.211, and - 0.304, respectively, p = 0.014, 0.028, and 0.022, respectively) and MG dropout (r = -0.191, -0.326, and -0.299, respectively, p = 0.049, 0.002, and 0.009, respectively). Significant positive correlations were also observed between the SPEED scores and SS duration (r = 0.303, p = 0.042) and MG dropout (r = 0.450, p = 0.029). Conclusions: Longer durations of primary SS-related dry eye were associated with worse MG dysfunction.