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Survey of dry eye symptoms in Australian pilots
Author(s) -
McCarty Daniel J,
McCarty Catherine A
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
clinical and experimental ophthalmology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.3
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1442-9071
pISSN - 1442-6404
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-9071.2000.00294.x
Subject(s) - medicine , logistic regression , altitude (triangle) , dry eyes , univariate analysis , demography , ophthalmology , optometry , multivariate analysis , geometry , mathematics , sociology
In 1996, a questionnaire was distributed to 4000 Australian commercial pilots for the quantification of symptoms of dry eye. The 1246 respondents ranged in age from 18–71 years (mean age 40.4 years), and 98.2% were men. Symptoms of dry eye during flight were reported by 901 (72.3%, 95% CI = 69.7–74.8) while only 67 (5.4%, 95% CI = 4.2–6.8) reported dry eye independent of flight. In univariate analyses, the following factors were associated with dry eye in flight: age, use of distance glasses, smoking, average weekly number of flight hours, type of aircraft usually flown, and normal cruising altitude. In a multiple logistic regression model, only the class of aeroplane (large jets vs propeller‐driven planes) (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.34–2.28) and estimated number of flight hours per week (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.34–1.86) were related to dry eye symptoms. In conclusion, self‐reported symptoms of dry eye are common in Australian pilots and are associated with aeroplane class and flying time.