Relation of dry eye to disease activity in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

To study the frequency and severity of dry eye in patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and its relation to disease activity.

Evaluation for dry eye was done in 40 patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis referred for ocular assessment in the Ophthalmology Clinics, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University. They were 28 girls and 12 boys with age range of 7-12 years. Medical history, clinical examination, and full ophthalmologic evaluation were performed for each patient. The dry eye tests included tear film break-up time, Schirmer-1 test, and corneal fluorescein staining. Dry eye severity grading was used. Twenty healthy, age- and sex-matched children were assessed for dry eye as a control group.

Thirty patients (75%) showed findings consistent with the diagnosis of dry eye. Twenty patients (50%) showed first-degree dryness, 8 (20%) showed second-degree, and 2 (5%) showed third-degree. The score of dry eye severity was significantly lower in remission compared to disease activity. Multiregression analysis showed the only factor affecting dry eye parameters was the duration of illness.

Dry eye is a common incident in children with JRA and should be screened for in all patients with this disease. Severity of eye dryness is highly correlated with the disease activity.