Ayoubi, M.; Cabrera, K.; Locatelli, E.V.; Felix, E.R.; Galor, A. Associations between Corneal Nerve Structure and Function in a Veteran Population. J. Clin. Med.2024, 13, 2513.
Ayoubi, M.; Cabrera, K.; Locatelli, E.V.; Felix, E.R.; Galor, A. Associations between Corneal Nerve Structure and Function in a Veteran Population. J. Clin. Med. 2024, 13, 2513.
Ayoubi, M.; Cabrera, K.; Locatelli, E.V.; Felix, E.R.; Galor, A. Associations between Corneal Nerve Structure and Function in a Veteran Population. J. Clin. Med.2024, 13, 2513.
Ayoubi, M.; Cabrera, K.; Locatelli, E.V.; Felix, E.R.; Galor, A. Associations between Corneal Nerve Structure and Function in a Veteran Population. J. Clin. Med. 2024, 13, 2513.
Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between corneal nerve structure and function in a veteran population. Methods: 83 veterans (mean age: 55 ± 5 years) seen at the Miami Veterans Affairs (VA) eye clinic were included in the study. Each individual filled out questionnaires to evaluate ocular symptoms (5-Item Dry Eye Questionnaire, DEQ5, Ocular Surface Disease Index, OSDI) and ocular pain (Numerical Rating Scale, NRS, Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory modified for the Eye, NPSI-Eye). Individuals also underwent an ocular surface examination that captured functional nerve tests including corneal sensation, corneal staining, and Schirmer test for tear production. Corneal sub-basal nerve analysis was conducted using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) images with corneal nerve density, length, area, width, and fractal dimension captured. IVCM and functional corneal metrics from the right eye were examined using correlational and linear regression analysis. Results: Most corneal structural metrics were not related to functional metrics, except for weak correlations between various IVCM metrics and tear production. In addition, corneal nerve fiber area was positively related to corneal sensation (r = 0.3, p = 0.01). On linear regression analyses, only corneal fractal dimension remained significantly related to tear production (β = -0.26, p = 0.02) and only corneal nerve fiber area remained significantly related to corneal sensation (β = 0.3, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Most corneal nerve structural metrics did not relate to functional metrics in our veteran population, apart from a few weak correlations between structural metrics and tear production. This highlights caution in using corneal nerve anatomy to predict corneal function.
Keywords
dry eye disease; corneal nerves; in vivo confocal microscopy; tear production; ocular symptoms
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Ophthalmology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
