Blepharitis is a pathology of the eyelid that is characterized by itching, ocular irritation and instability of the tear film, it accounts for 47% of ophthalmological consultations in the office. Various factors such as aging, infection, and dysfunction of lipid secretion can lead to anterior or posterior blepharitis.
The most common factor is poor eye hygiene , blepharitis can be solved by improving hygiene. With respect to systemic correlations, it has been considered that blepharitis could be associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer and asthma.
Metabolic syndrome, a combination of factors: dyslipidemia, hypertension, high glucose and obesity around the waist, has become a global health problem and affects men in a greater proportion.
The incidence of metabolic syndrome in some Asian Pacific countries reaches 30%. However, the origin of this pathology is not known, but lifestyle changes and increased physical activity are recommended to combat it. This syndrome is linked to several problems of the nervous and circulatory system; early detection is essential.
Evidence linking blepharitis to metabolic syndrome is limited but increasing. A recent study demonstrated an association between blepharitis and pathologies of the carotid artery, coronary artery and hyperlipidemia.
It is logical to think that lipid metabolism problems could cause blepharitis or meibomian gland dysfunction.
The present study investigated the relationship between blepharitis and metabolic syndrome using the 2010 Taiwan National Health Insurance database.
Patients and methods:
In the present study, patients with a diagnosis of blepharitis according to the international classification of pathologies were included. Patients with problems of blindness or ocular tumors, nor patients who were being treated with antibiotics, were not included. The control cohort was a population of similar age and gender.
The present study demonstrated a significant relationship between blepharitis and metabolic syndrome (dyslipidemia, hypertension, high glucose, and obesity around the waist).
Furthermore, according to these results, blepharitis could be an early sign of hyperlipidemia or coronary artery pathologies, for example. On the contrary, the results indicate that there is no association between hypertension or diabetes and previous blepharitis.
There is no consensus regarding the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome, although the main mechanism appears to be insulin resistance, free radicals and oxidative stress accumulated with age.
One of the main characteristics of blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelid; there is also a certain relationship with oxidative stress and inflammatory ocular pathologies such as rosacea and infection.
Additionally, metabolic syndrome could cause dry eye syndrome , which is common in patients with blepharitis. All this suggests that both pathologies have a similar pathophysiology.
In recent decades, the pathology of the meibomian glands has been considered the primary cause of blepharitis; in turn, there is a correlation with cardiovascular pathologies. In the present study, blepharitis was associated with serious cardiovascular pathologies, including hyperlipidemia and coronary heart disease.
According to the multivariate analysis of this study, hypertension was not correlated with blepharitis, nor was diabetes. New research should evaluate the relationship between hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and blepharitis with a longer follow-up period.
| Conclusions: |
- Blepharitis is associated with metabolic syndrome.
- Likewise, blepharitis can serve as an early sign of metabolic syndrome and severe morbidity caused by said syndrome.
- A new large-scale investigation, prospective and not retrospective in nature, should be carried out to confirm the relationship between blepharitis and metabolic syndrome in terms of the severity of the pathology and form of treatment.
