Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca And Its Association With Disease Markers Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

1. Rathika Kandasamy¹
2. Bethel Livingstone²
3. Suk-Chyn Gun²
4. Visvaraja Subrayan³
5. Voon-Pei Loo³

¹Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching, Malaysia
²Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital, Seremban, Malaysia
³Universiti Malaya Medical Centre

Purpose: To determine the association between the presence of keratoconjunctivitis sicca and clinical/investigative markers of rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: Hospital based, cross sectional study. 210 rheumatoid arthritis patients attending the rheumatology clinic of a tertiary hospital in Malaysia were recruited consecutively between January to May 2007. Data collection was by patient interview, rheumatological and ophthalmological assessment. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca was diagnosed using Tear film Break-up Time, Schirmer 1 testing and Rose Bengal staining.

Results: Mean age (±SD) age of patients was 50.9 (±11.5) years and the majority were female (92%). The prevalence of keratoconjunctivitis sicca in this series was 44.8 %( 95% CI 38.1%, 51.5%). There were statistically significant associations between keratoconjunctivitis sicca and the presence of joint deformity, presence of rheumatoid nodule and rheumatoid factor positivity. (p < 0.05)

Conclusions: The presence of keratoconjunctivitis sicca may be predicted by certain clinical/investigative features of rheumatoid arthritis.