Systematic Review Reveals Dry Eye Prevalence Widely Varies

It was found in this meta-analysis that dry eye prevalence differs among men and women as well as increases with age. In general, according to DEWS II criteria, DED was more prevalent in women.  Photo: Jessica Steen, OD. Click image to enlarge.  Although dysfunction of the ocular surface has been studied extensively in recent years, actual occurrence seems to change dramatically by country as well as other demographics. In a paper presented at ARVO last Wednesday, researchers outlined their findings in a meta-analysis of existing study data from population studies that were well-designed with the aim to determine dry eye disease (DED) prevalence. This was done using different diagnostic approaches and stratified by age and sex.The search for literature included peer-reviewed cross-sectional or cohort population-based studies that reported on DED prevalence or signs and symptoms; the search went as far back as those published in 1980. Included in the systematic review were 12 total studies with a sample size of 14,315 women and 10,440 men.Upon meta-analysis, DED prevalence for signs of the disease in those aged 40 years was similar between the sexes but ranged from 8.7% to 42.8% for tear stability and 10.7% to 31.0% for tear volume. Staining associated with dry eye increased in prevalence with age bracket, starting with a low prevalence between 1% and 2% from ages 40 to 49 and increasing to values nearing 30% to 40% at 80 to 89 in both sexes. According to DEWS II criteria for classifying the condition, in women, DED prevalence increased from 4.7% at ages six to nine up to 55.0% in patients aged 80 to 89. In men, looking at the same age brackets yielded an increase from 6.3% to 37.5%. The researchers of the paper succinctly summarize their findings regarding dry eye prevalence on a population level, stating that “4.5% to 57.3% of those aged 40 years and above show at least one sign of DED and between 5.5% to 41.2% of the combined population report DED according to DEWS II criteria.”Original abstract content ©2025 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Jalbert I, Vitale S, Stapleton F. Systematic review of the prevalence of dry eye using different diagnostic approaches. ARVO 2025 annual meeting.