[Measurement of lacrimal secretion in chronic hemodialysis patients at Douala General Hospital - Cameroon].

PURPOSE: To measure lacrimal secretion and to investigate dry eye symptoms in chronic hemodialysis patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in the hemodialysis center of Douala General Hospital from June to August 2016. The degree of symptomatology related to dry eye was assessed by the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire. Lacrimal secretion was measured by the Schirmer test without anesthesia. We defined normal as wetting>10mm and hyposecretion as a value≤10mm after 5minutes.

RESULTS: Thirty-five patients were involved in the study, 16 men (45.7%) and 19 women (54.3%) for a total of 70 eyes examined. The mean age was 41.9 years, with an average duration of dialysis of 35.5 months±30.2. The symptoms were "normal" for 21 patients (60%), "minimal" for 5 (14.3%), "moderate" for 8 (22.9%) and "severe" for 1 (2.8%). Lacrimal hyposecretion was found in 19 eyes (27.1%). It was severe in 8 eyes. A correlation was found between diabetes, gender and hyposecretion.

CONCLUSION: Hemodialysis patients are likely to develop lacrimal hyposecretion mostly because of comorbities. It is therefore important to systematically evaluate lacrimal secretion in these patients.