What We Know About the Epidemiology of Dry Eye Disease in Japan

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a systematic review on the prevalence of dry eye disease (DED) and its economic burden in Japan and other countries. A systematic review was performed of data gathered from a PubMed search between 2002 to 2017, using the following key words: “dry eye,” “prevalence,” “epidemiology,” and “risk factors.” There have been several cross-sectional studies evaluating the epidemiological aspect of DED in Japan: two population-based studies, two cross-sectional studies on visual display terminal (VDT) users, and one study focusing on high school students. One study calculated the direct cost of DED, and two calculated the indirect cost using a work productivity assessment to evaluate the economic burden. The prevalence of DED in the Japanese population was relatively high in all studies compared to reports from other countries. In Japan, the annual health plan cost per patient was estimated to be $323 (US). Work productivity loss per patient associated with definite DED was estimated to be between $741 and $6160. To conclude, it was found that DED is prevalent across generations in the Japanese population, and costs related to the disease lead to considerable economic burden.