Clinical indicators of dry eye severity nursing outcome in intensive care unit.
Raffaela Patrícia da Silva Soares, Ana Paula Nunes de Lima Fernandes, Fabiane Rocha Botarelli and 3 others
PMID 31664409WHAT IT FOUND
ICU patients often showed dry eye signs.
Tear production was low in 162 of 206 patients, and redness was present in 123. The study assessed signs, not whether eye care prevents them.
Key findings
01Among 206 ICU patients, 117 were recorded as having Risk of Dry Eyes and 89 had clinical signs suggesting Dry Eye.
02Decreased tear production was impaired in 162 patients and conjunctival redness in 123 patients.
03Impaired blinking was associated with mechanical ventilation and sedative use.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design measured eye signs at one point and cannot show that mechanical ventilation or medications caused dry eye. Patients received many treatments at once, so the contribution of any single medication or ventilator setting cannot be separated. Only six signs were measured, and symptoms such as pain or blurred vision were omitted because many ICU patients could not report them. Convenience sampling at one university hospital may limit how well results apply to other ICUs. No intervention was tested, so the paper does not show that eye care prevents or improves dry eye.
Declared interests
Supported by CNPq, Brazil, grant # 444290/2014-1. The paper does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations as proof that mechanical ventilation or sedatives caused eye impairment, or that eye care prevents it. The study measured signs at one time point in patients receiving many treatments, and it did not test eye care.