Is there a role of estimation of serum lipid profile level in meibomian gland dysfunction?

Volume : VII, Issue : IV, April - 2018

Dr. Gottumukkala Sridevi, Dr. Undrakonda Vivekanand, Dr. V. Narasinga Rao

Aim: To determine any association between meibomian gland disease and fasting serum lipid profile level.

Setting: Hospital based study

Patients and methods: A case control study of 100 patients (cases) with symptoms and signs of Meibomian gland disease (MGD) and 100

patients (controls) without any symptoms of MGD, between November 2014 to September 2016. Investigations such as Tear film eak up time

(TBUT), Schirmer‘s test, fluorescein and rose bengal staining for the eye along with fasting lipid profile was performed for all the patients. Study

groups both cases and controls were compared using Chi square test using SPSS 20.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

Results: Statistically significant elevation of total cholesterol (P=0.00), triglycerides (P=0.00) and LDL levels (P=0.046) were found in MGD

cases.

Conclusion: Patients with MGD with no history of hypercholesterolemia may have higher blood cholesterol levels (P=0.00) and triglycerides

levels (P=0.00) and LDL levels (P=0.046) than controls of similar age without MGD. If this finding is confirmed by larger studies, MGD may

become a marker of previously unknown hypercholesterolemia.