Corneal Dendritic Cell Density Is Associated with Subbasal Nerve Plexus Features, Ocular Surface Disease Index, and Serum Vitamin D in Evaporative Dry Eye Disease

Table 1

(a) Study parameters between control and EDE cohort. (b) Subbasal nerve plexus feature differences based on severity of symptoms in EDE patients.

(a)

	Control (; 43 eyes)			EDE (; 104 eyes)			value
	Mean	Median	Range	Mean	Median	Range
OSDI
Total	15.0 ± 1.5	14.9	0–38.5	28.1 ± 2.5	20.8	2.1–68.8	0.0005
OSDI—discomfort	4.5 ± 0.5	4.2	0–12.5	32.6 ± 3.2	20.8	4.2–83.3	<0.0001
OSDI—vision	6.4 ± 0.8	8.3	0–20.8	23.5 ± 2.4	20.8	0–70.8	<0.0001
TBUT	10.7 ± 0.3	10	7–15	7.0 ± 0.2	7	1–12	<0.0001
Dendritic cells
Total cells (cells/mm^2)	9.1 ± 1.3	5.6	0–36.8	52.9 ± 4.0	48.1	7–261.2	<0.0001
DCs with dendrites (cells/mm^2)	1.0 ± 0.2	0	0–4	13.0 ± 1.2	8.5	0–54.6	<0.0001
DCs without dendrites (cells/mm^2)	8.1 ± 1.2	5.2	0–35.4	39.9 ± 3.2	29.8	7–235	<0.0001
Subbasal nerve plexus
CNFL (length in mm/mm^2)	17.0 ± 0.4	17.7	7.1–22.3	16.5 ± 0.3	16.27	8.09–22.98	ns
CNFD (major nerves/mm^2)	28.6 ± 0.8	29.7	12.5–40	27.2 ± 0.6	27.5	5–43.75	ns
CNFW (average nerve fiber width/mm^2)	0.0211 ± 0.0002	0.0209	0.0186–0.0254	0.0211 ± 0.00009	0.021	0.0184–0.0237	ns
CTBD (branch points/mm^2)	58.4 ± 3.2	58.75	3.7–103.7	56.8 ± 2.5	52.5	15–123.7	ns
CNBD (number of branches/mm^2)	40.9 ± 2.3	42.35	1.2–83.7	39.0 ± 1.7	37.5	3.75–81.24	ns
CNFA (total nerve fiber area/mm^2)	0.0066 ± 0.0002	0.0066	0.002–0.0111	0.0068 ± 0001	0.00665	0.0034–0.0134	ns

EDE: evaporative dry eye; OSDI: ocular surface disease index; TBUT: tear break-up time; DCs: dendritic cells; CNFL: corneal nerve fiber length; CNFD: corneal nerve fiber density; CNFW: corneal nerve fiber width; CTBD: corneal total branch density; CNBD: corneal nerve branch density; CNFA: corneal nerve fiber area; ns: not statistically significant; value compared to controls (Mann-Whitney test).

(b)

	EDE (OSDI score < 23) eyes			value	EDE (OSDI score > 23) eyes			value
	Mean	Median	Range		Mean	Median	Range
Subbasal nerve plexus
CNFL (length in mm/mm^2)	16.9 ± 0.3	17.7	7.1–22.3	ns	15.9 ± 0.4	15.8	8.09–22.3	0.0165; 0.04^#
CNFD (major nerves/mm^2)	27.9 ± 0.7	28.7	15–42.5	ns	26.2 ± 1.0	27.5	5–43.75	0.0447; ns^#
CNFW (average nerve fiber width/mm^2)	0.0210 ± 0.0001	0.021	0.0193–0.0233	ns	0.0211 ± 0.0001	0.021	0.0184–0.0237	0.6107; ns^#
CTBD (branch points/mm^2)	61.5 ± 3.5	59.3	15–123.7	ns	50.8 ± 3.4	48.7	15–111.2	0.0398; 0.04^#
CNBD (number of branches/mm^2)	42.7 ± 2.3	41.2	11.2–81.2	ns	34.3 ± 2.6	32.5	3.75–78.7	0.0208; 0.01^#
CNFA (total nerve fiber area/mm^2)	0.0071 ± 0.0002	0.0069	0.0035–0.0134	ns	0.0064 ± 0002	0.0063	0.0034–0.0119	0.4098; ns^#

EDE: evaporative dry eye; OSDI: ocular surface disease index; CNFL: corneal nerve fiber length; CNFD: corneal nerve fiber density; CNFW: corneal nerve fiber width; CTBD: corneal total branch density; CNBD: corneal nerve branch density; CNFA: corneal nerve fiber area; ns: not statistically significant; value compared to controls (Mann-Whitney test); ^# value compared to EDE—OSDI score < 23 (Mann-Whitney test).