Blepharitis may be an early sign of metabolic syndrome : BMJ

Dr. Chia-Yi Lee and associates conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate the relationship between blepharitis and metabolic syndrome (Mets) and found that Blepharitis is significantly related to metabolic syndrome, MetS and can serve as an early sign of MetS. The study has been published in British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Blepharitis is an inflammatory condition affecting the area around the base of the eyelashes.The underlying causes of chronic blepharitis are not well understood.The most obvious signs of blepharitis are redness and stickiness of the eyelid, with clumping of scaly skin around the base of the eyelashes.

In the instant study, the Researchers conducted it by using the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) of Taiwan for the period from 2009 to 2013. They enrolled patients who received a diagnosis of blepharitis according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, diagnostic code. An age-matched, gender-matched and disease-matched population without blepharitis served as the control group.

In the study the researchers included a total of 10 093 patients with blepharitis in the study group, and another 40 372 participants without blepharitis were included in the control group.It was found that after adjustment, patients with blepharitis had a higher probability of developing new MetS than controls although hypertension and diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance showed no correlation with blepharitis.

The authors concluded that Blepharitis is significantly related to MetS and can serve as an early sign of MetS. Additional studies should examine the relationship between blepharitis and MetS in terms of severity

For more details click on the link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-310975