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Updated: Oct 30, 2025
Intense Pulsed Light for the Treatment of Dry Eye Owing to Meibomian Gland Dysfunction
Published on: April 1, 2019
Meibomian Gland Dysfunction and Lipid Profile: A Study Among Pregnant Women
Samuel Kyei1, Kofi Asiedu, Richard K D Ephraim
1Department of Optometry and Vision Science (S.K., S.A.), College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana; School of Optometry & Vision Science (K.A.), Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Australia ; Eye Clinic (K.A.), Cosmopolitan Medical Center, North-Dzorwulu, Accra Ghana; Department of Medical Laboratory Science (R.K.D.E., S.K.A.-B., B.A., M.A.S.), School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana ; and Division of Family Medicine (M.A.), Directorate of University Health Services, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Purpose:
This study aimed to estimate the frequency of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and its associated factors among pregnant women.
Methods:
This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study of consecutive pregnant women visiting the University of Cape Coast hospital's antenatal clinic. Meibomian gland assessment and tear function test were performed along with the administration of a symptom questionnaire. Correlation, analysis of variance, and logistic regression analyses were used to examine predictors of MGD.
Results:
All 201 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria and gave informed consent were included in the study. The mean age of the entire sample was 29.96 (±4.74) years. The frequency of MGD among the cohort of pregnant women was 22.9% (95% confidence interval, 17.4%-28.9%). Univariate logistic regression revealed that the following factors were significantly associated with MGD: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (odds ratio [OR] 1.017; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001-1.034; P=0.042), total cholesterol (TC) (OR 1.009; 95% CI, 1.003-1.016; P=0.006), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (OR 1.008; 95% CI, 1.00-1.016; P=0.049). In multivariate analysis, the model confirmed that MGD was not significantly associated with TC, LDL, and HDL.
Conclusions:
In summary, this study showed a high frequency of MGD in pregnant women but comparable with that reported in the normal population. Clinicians examining pregnant women for dry eye disease may need to pay attention to other causative instigators aside MGD to enable the clinicians to make an appropriate etiology-based diagnosis.
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