Prevalence of dry eye disease in elderly individuals of the French population (the MONTRACHET Study)

Purpose To report the prevalence of dry eye in a large population-based sample of French individuals older than 75 years. Methods About 9000 individuals 65 years and older were included in the 3C cohort study since 1999 in 3 French cities (Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier). In Dijon, an additional ophthalmic examination was performed 10 years after the initial inclusions to assess the relation between systemic age-related diseases and eye diseases in the MONTRACHET Study (Maculopathy Optic Nerve nuTRition neurovAsCular and HEarT diseases). Dry eye symptoms were collected with self reported history of dry eye symptoms, use of topical medications and evaluated by the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire. Every patient underwent ophthalmic evaluation which included Schirmer I test without anesthesia, tear film break up time measurement and fluorescein cornea1 staining evaluation. Prevalence of dry eye was evaluated with subjective criteria (history and OSDI questionnaire) and objective criteria. Results One thousand and twenty four subjects were included in the study. Mean age was 83.7 ± 3.8 years old. 62.9% of the patients were women (644). Prevalence of dry eye is reported in Tables 1 and 2. (Δ : Variable; BUT : Break-Up-Time; Fluo : Fluorescein staining; - : Négative; + : Positive) Conclusions As reported in the literature, this study shows wide variations in dry eye prevalence depending on the sign or symptoms considered

Clinical characteristics and quality of life in women with COPD: an observational study.

International audienceBACKGROUND: The impact of COPD on patient's quality of life is well established, but gender differences have received little attention. METHODS: To describe factors associated with the health-related quality of life by gender Methods: A cross-sectional observational study (NCT01007734) was conducted in COPD patients followed by pulmonologists. The first patient included had to be a woman. Data concerning the patient, COPD and their management were collected by the physician. The patient had to fill in several questionnaires: Saint-George Hospital respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ-C), and motivation to quit smoking. RESULTS: Four hundred and thirty patients were included: mean age 63.9 +/- 11.3 years; 57.4% were women. Women were significantly younger than men (61.9 vs. 66.6) and their tobacco use was lower (37.1 vs. 40.4 PY). Cardiovascular comorbidities were more frequent in men while osteoporosis, anxiety and depression were frequent in women. The frequency of cough, sputum and the severity of dyspnea did not differ significantly between genders. Lung function impairment was less severe in women than in men (mean FEV1 52% predicted normal vs. 47. 8%). Anxiety score was higher (score 9.8 vs. 7.1) and quality of life (SGRQ-C) more impaired in women (scores 50.6 vs. 45.4; p < 0.02) than in men. Moreover, in multivariate analysis, chronic sputum was associated with higher SGRQ-C scores in women but not in men. CONCLUSIONS: This study underlines that despite less airflow limitation, quality of life is more impacted by chronic sputum in women than in men