Impact of Dry Eye Disease on Work Productivity, and Patients' Satisfaction With Over the Counter Dry Eye Treatments.
PURPOSE To assess the effect of dry eye disease on work productivity and performance of non work related activities, and patients' satisfaction with over the counter (OTC) dry eye treatments. METHODS In this prospective, noninterventional, cross sectional study, conducted at 10 U.S. optometry/ophthalmology practices, 158 symptomatic dry eye patients naive to prescription medication underwent standard dry eye diagnostic tests and completed Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) and Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaires. Use of OTC dry eye medication, and satisfaction with OTC medication and symptom relief were also assessed. RESULTS On average, dry eye resulted in loss of 0.36% of work time ~5 minutes over 7 days) and ~30% impairment of workplace performance (presenteeism) work productivity, and non job related activities. Presenteeism and productivity impairment scores showed significant correlation with OSDI total (r 0.55) and symptom domain (r 0.50) scores, but not with dry eye clinical signs. Activity impairment score showed stronger correlation with OSDI total (r 0.61) and symptom domain (r 0.53) scores than with clinical signs (r 0.20) Almost 75% of patients used OTC dry eye medication. Levels of patient satisfaction with OTC medication (64.2% and symptom relief from OTC (37.3% were unaffected by administration frequency =3 vs. =2 times daily) CONCLUSIONS Dry eye causes negligible absenteeism, but markedly reduces workplace and non job related performances. Impairment of work performance is more closely linked to dry eye symptoms than to clinical signs. Patients' perceptions of OTC dry eye medication tend to be more positive than their perceptions of symptom relief.
Investigative ophthalmology visual science