Ocular findings in patients with autoimmune liver disease

This is a collaborative study from the ophthalmology and gastroenterology departments of a tertiary care hospital, designed to investigate the ocular features in patients with autoimmune liver disease (ALD).

Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients with ALD, and 40 eyes of 20 controls with normal ocular findings were evaluated. Schirmer test, tear film break-up time, pachymetry, macular thickness with optic coherence tomography, and optic nerve head analysis with the HRT III were performed in addition to complete ophthalmologic examination.

Of the 36 patients, 31 were female (86.1%) and 5 were male (13.9%). The average age of patients was 47.7 ± 13.3 years (21-76 years). Autoimmune hepatitis in 22 patients (61.1%), primary biliary cirrhosis in 10 patients (27.8%), and primary sclerosing cholangitis in 4 patients (11.1%) were detected as etiologic causes. Cataract was seen more often in the study group. Tear film break-up time and Schirmer test results were significantly lower in the study group than in the controls. Other parameters were not different from control group.

ALD showed a marked preponderance of females, with sex ratios of 6 females per male supportive to literature. The basal tear secretion and tear film stability are lower, and the dry eye symptoms are more common among the cases with ALD.