Association Between Eyelid Laxity and Obstructive Sleep Apnea

While much has been reported on the relationship between floppy eyelid syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the diagnostic criteria of floppy eyelid syndrome are often subjective and vague.

To evaluate the association between OSA and quantitative markers of eyelid laxity or secondary ocular surface disease in a sleep clinic population.

This investigation was a cross-sectional observational study at the Center for Sleep Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Participants were individuals referred for overnight polysomnography from March 1 to August 30, 2015.

Eyelid laxity and ocular surface disease were assessed on bedside ophthalmologic examination. The presence and severity of OSA were determined from polysomnography results. Initial correlation between OSA and ocular surface and eyelid markers was calculated through bivariate linear regression analysis, and the association between ocular symptoms was obtained through bivariate ordered logistic regression. Analysis was repeated adjusting for known associations between OSA and sex, age, body mass index, and medical comorbidities through multivariable analysis.

In total, 201 individuals (402 eyes) were enrolled in the study. Their mean (SD) age was 53.2 (13.5) years, 43.3% (n = 87) were female, 56.7% (n = 114) were of white race/ethnicity, 26.9% (n = 54) were black/African American, 4.0% (n = 8) were Asian, 8.0% (n = 16) were multiracial or other, and 4.5% (n = 9) were of unknown race/ethnicity, with 21.9% (n = 44) of all individuals self-identifying as Hispanic and 75.1% (n = 151) self-identifying as non-Hispanic. After adjustment, no association was observed between OSA severity and an eyelid laxity score (regression coefficient, 0.85; 95% CI, -0.33 to 0.62; P = .40) or an ocular surface score (regression coefficient, 1.09; 95% CI, -0.32 to 0.29; P = .93). Through subset analysis, male sex was associated with a higher ocular surface score, while older age and diabetes were associated with a higher eyelid laxity score. Only one patient (0.5%) exhibited findings of floppy eyelid syndrome.

Among individuals referred for overnight polysomnography, quantitative markers of eyelid laxity were not associated with the presence or severity of OSA. Subset analysis suggests that prior studies may have been limited by confounding variables or the technique of identifying eyelid laxity.