Table 1.
Demographics and clinical characteristics of the study subjects
| Variables | All group (n = 209) |
Young group (n = 77) |
Middle-aged group (n = 52) |
Older group (n = 80) |
P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (y) | 51 (33) | 29 (8) | 51 (7.75) | 66 (13) | < 0.001 |
| Sex (male/female) | 77/132 | 28/49 | 18/34 | 31/49 | 0.885 |
| OSDI score | 23 (27) | 31 (20.5) | 29.5 (24.75) | 14 (18.75) | < 0.001 |
| LLT (nm) | 57 (36.5) | 51 (23.5) | 59.5 (46.5) | 62 (42.5) | 0.026 |
| Eyelid margin abnormality | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | 2 (0) | 0.001 |
| MGE score | 8 (10) | 11 (9) | 6 (11.25) | 7.5 (8) | 0.001 |
| Schirmer’s I test (mm) | 7 (12.5) | 15 (19) | 5 (7.75) | 6 (6.75) | < 0.001 |
| ITBUT (sec) | 3 (2) | 2.7 (2) | 2.3 (1.23) | 3 (2) | 0.263 |
| CFS score | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (2) | 0.745 |
| NITBUT (sec) | 4.4 (3.06) | 4.7 (2.56) | 4.2 (2.97) | 4.0 (3.68) | 0.712 |
| Central TMH (mm) | 0.18 (0.1) | 0.19 (0.07) | 0.19 (0.10) | 0.18 (0.08) | 0.038 |
| MG dropout (%) | 32 (12) | 32 (11) | 32 (13) | 30 (13) | 0.972 |
OSDI Ocular surface disease index; LLT Lipid layer thickness; MGE Meibomian gland evaluator, ITBUT Invasive tear break-up time; CFS Corneal fluorescein staining; NITBUT Non-invasive tear break-up time; TMH Tear meniscus height
All continuous data are expressed as medians (interquartile range, IQR)
Significant data are in bold faceik