PURPOSE

This study aimed to estimate the frequency of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and its associated factors among pregnant women.

METHODS

This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study of consecutive pregnant women visiting the University of Cape Coast hospital's antenatal clinic. Meibomian gland assessment and tear function test were performed along with the administration of a symptom questionnaire. Correlation, analysis of variance, and logistic regression analyses were used to examine predictors of MGD.

RESULTS

All 201 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria and gave informed consent were included in the study. The mean age of the entire sample was 29.96 (±4.74) years. The frequency of MGD among the cohort of pregnant women was 22.9% (95% confidence interval, 17.4%-28.9%). Univariate logistic regression revealed that the following factors were significantly associated with MGD: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (odds ratio [OR] 1.017; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001-1.034; P=0.042), total cholesterol (TC) (OR 1.009; 95% CI, 1.003-1.016; P=0.006), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (OR 1.008; 95% CI, 1.00-1.016; P=0.049). In multivariate analysis, the model confirmed that MGD was not significantly associated with TC, LDL, and HDL.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, this study showed a high frequency of MGD in pregnant women but comparable with that reported in the normal population. Clinicians examining pregnant women for dry eye disease may need to pay attention to other causative instigators aside MGD to enable the clinicians to make an appropriate etiology-based diagnosis.