Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography of Tear Film and Cornea in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients

To study tear film and corneal thickness measurements in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients compared to age-matched controls using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT).

This was a cross-sectional study. Study participants were divided into 3 groups: Group A: SLE patients with clinical dry eye, Group B: SLE patients without clinical dry eye and Group C: healthy controls. The lower tear meniscus parameters measured using AS-OCT were tear meniscus height (TMH), tear meniscus depth (TMD) and tear meniscus area (TMA). The central corneal and corneal epithelial thickness were automatically calculated.

The study included 40 eyes in Group A, 60 in Group B, and 100 in Group C. Mean age was 26.9±6.6 years for Group A, 27.6±7.3 years for Group B and 35.7±9.2 years for Group C (p= 0.06). All subjects were females except for 1 male patient in Group A. Mean TMH, TMA and TMD in Group C were 487.7±185.6 µm, 0.068±0.040 mm², and 341.2±99.1 µm, respectively, which was significantly higher compared to Group A (225.5±27.9 µm, 0.018±0.004 mm² and 171.9±26.0 µm, respectively, all p < 0.001) and Group B (395.4±118.8 µm, p < 0.001; 0.05±0.04 mm², p=0.016 and 280.6±93.4 µm, p < 0.001, respectively). Group B eyes also had significantly higher parameters compared to Group A (all p < 0.001). Mean corneal and epithelial thickness in Group C were 501.6±37.5 µm and 53.3±4.5 µm, respectively, which was significantly higher compared to Group A (496.1±24.1 µm, p=0.044 and 49.5±3.5 µm, p < 0.001, respectively) and Group B (504.2±22.03 µm, p=0.046 and 47.5±5.6 µm, p < 0.001, respectively). Group B eyes also had a significantly higher corneal thickness (p=0.031) and epithelial thickness (p=0.011) compared to Group A.

We demonstrated significant reduction of tear meniscus dimensions, central corneal thickness and epithelial thickness in SLE patients compared to age-matched controls using AS-OCT.