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ABSTRACT
Background: The public health burden of dry eye disease (DED) is a growing concern globally as it is associated with economic loss as a result of its direct and indirect costs to patients and society. Previous research has revealed that DED can have a considerable influence on visual function, lowering a person's quality of life. Therefore, because driving is a task integral to daily life for many people around the world, a study that evaluates the impact of dry eyes (using the Ocular Surface Disease Index) and tear stability (using the non-invasive tear breakup time) among drivers in Nigeria is of great importance. Purpose: To evaluate dry eye in drivers using OSDI questionnaire and non-invasive tear break-up time. Method: This study was an observational design and convenient sampling technique was used. A total sample size of 90 participants were investigated. The correlation analysis between the OSDI and NITBUT test scores was performed by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Result: Majority of the participants (n = 60; 63.16%) were male. The majority (57.9%) of the participants were between the age range of 20-30 years with a mean age of 31.59 ± 8.42 years. The participants had a mean NIBUT of 31.40 ± 19.15 seconds. The participants had a mean OSDI score of 28.18 ± 13.84. The participants had a median NIBUT and OSDI score of 28.56 seconds and 31.30, respectively. There is no significant difference between the positive and negative mean ranks (p>0.05). Conclusion: Drivers have normal tear film stability. Drivers are more prone to dry eye diseases as they experience moderate symptoms of ocular irritations that may affect their visual performance of their driving. There is no significant difference between OSDI and NIBUT (p>0.05). Keywords: dry eye, driving, OSDI, Non-invasive Tear Break-up Time, NIBUT.
