Comparing Objective Conjunctival Hyperemia Grading and the Ocular Surface Disease Index Score in Dry Eye Syndrome During COVID-19

Currently, though OSDI survey is commonly used to assess dry eye syndrome, the AOS software will be used to objectively determine the dry eye syndrome using the redness grading system. The main advantage of using the AOS software is to objectively assess dry eye syndrome. For surveying the prevalence of dry eye syndrome, or DES, email the Ocular Surface Disease Index, or OSDI questionnaire, to the participants, with informed consent.

Based on the response to the questionnaire, score the participants. Depending on the OSDI score, classify the patients into low, moderate, and high categories. For DES evaluation by the Advanced Ophthalmic Systems or AOS software, first, take pictures of the subject's eyes, one eye at a time, and assign the subject ID number, and save the subject ID.To add a subject, click on the Add tab.

Then, fill in the Title tab. Next, fill in the first name, surname, date of birth, and email address, and confirm the email address. Then, fill in the National Health Service ID and the medical record number.

Next, fill in the Note tab, and click on Save. Now, select the subject ID.Then, click on Add/View Images. Then click on plus Add.

To upload the image to AOS for limbal redness evaluation, first, click on the New Exam tab, followed by the Image Plus tab, and add the right eye image. Click on the Selected Media tab. After that, click on the Bulbar icon, followed by the Area tab, and Analysis bulbar redness grading scale, zero to four.

For image analysis, first, click on the image beginning at the limbal area close to the pupil border, and follow a pattern to cover the limbal area. Then, click on Save analysis. Next, click on the redness map.

And Save analysis. Finally, click on Generate Report. For generating PDF, click on both images, and similarly add the left eye image.

For grading the limbal redness using the AOS software, analyze the images for bulbar conjunctival redness, with a validated objective grading software, using the bulbar redness function in the limbal areas of the conjunctiva, using an automatic continuous grading of zero to four, in 0.1 unit. For data analysis, first, create a Microsoft Excel table, summarizing the subject ID, age, gender, race, OSDI score, and the limbal redness. Then calculate the age, OSDI score, and the limbal redness score, along with their means and standard deviations, using Excel.

To calculate the percentage of low DES prevalence, divide the number of subjects with low DES by the total number of subjects, and multiply by 100. Similarly, calculate the percentage of prevalence of moderate and severe DES. To determine the relationship between the OSDI and AOS redness scores, perform a linear regression analysis, with the mean of the two values, and the difference between the two means, in Excel.

Also determine the P value. In this study, the scores obtained from the OSDI questionnaire were used to characterize the participants of the survey. The survey showed that the prevalence rates of low DES, moderate DES, and severe DES, were 15, 77.5, and 7.5%respectively.

The AOS software was used for the gradation of the participants, according to the degree of redness of their eyes. The AOS objective grading system showed that the prevalence rates of mild DES, moderate DES, and severe DES were 27.5, 12.5, and 10%respectively. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that the two systems of gradation have a strong relationship with one another.

Make sure that the images taken by the subjects are clear and focused. Otherwise, then, AOS software won't give you accurate data. After using AOS weight software to determine the dry eye syndrome, we can compare the results to the OSDI survey, which is considered the gold standard to assess dry eye syndrome.

The AOS software can objectively assess dry eye syndrome in patients.