Gender differences in dry eye disease symptoms associated with psychological health indicators among adults using mobile mental health apps

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 1; p. e0278921
• Main Authors: Kim, Hyojin, An, Youngju, Hwang, Won Ju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 17.01.2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Age; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass index; Cognition & reasoning; Contact lenses; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dry eye syndromes; Dry Eye Syndromes - diagnosis; Education; Eye diseases; Family income; Female; Females; Gender; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Health aspects; Health problems; Health risks; Humans; Irritation; Lifestyles; Male; Males; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental Health; Mental illness; Mobile applications; Perceptions; Prevalence; Quality of life; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk Factors; Sex Characteristics; Sex differences; Sex differences (Psychology); Sex Factors; Sexes; Signs and symptoms; Social Sciences; Stress; Surgery; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Womens health; South Korea
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278921

We aimed to investigate the association between dry eye disease (DED) symptoms and mental health among Korean adults in the community. A cross-sectional study analyzed the data of 152 participants using mobile-phone applications for recording mental health. We defined individuals with DED symptoms as those who experienced a sense of irritation or dryness of the eye (either constantly or often). Mental health (perceived stress, depression, and anxiety) was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and General Anxiety Disorder-7, in this order. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the association between DED symptoms and mental health. We also adjusted for possible covariates. We investigated sex differences in mental health status in relation to DED. We found that 41.4% of the participants (48.4% female and 30.5% male) showed DED symptoms, and its prevalence was higher in female than in male. The average perceived stress and anxiety symptoms in the female with DED (24.69±4.73 and 6.56±5.09, respectively) were significantly higher than those without DED (21.38±4.68 and 4.54±4.03) (p = 0.020 and 0.038, respectively). Even after adjusting for possible covariates, female who had DED showed higher risks of perceived stress (OR = 1.28), depression (OR = 2.64), and anxiety (OR = 5.81). Clinicians and nurses should therefore be aware of the possibility of mental health problems among female with DED.