@article {397826,
	title = {Reduced Corneal Endothelial Cell Density inPatients With Dry Eye Disease.},
	journal = {Am J Ophthalmol},
	volume = {159},
	number = {6},
	year = {2015},
	month = {2015 Jun},
	pages = {1022-1026.e2},
	abstract = {PURPOSE: To evaluate corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) in patients with dry eye disease (DED) compared to an age-matched control group. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, controlled study. METHODS: This study included 90 eyes of 45 patients with moderate to severe DED (aged 53.7 {\textpm} 9.8 years) and 30 eyes of 15 normal controls (aged 50.7 {\textpm} 9.8 years). All subjects had a complete ophthalmic evaluation including symptom assessment using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and corneal fluorescein staining. In addition, laser scanning in\&nbsp;vivo confocal microscopy was performed to measure the density of the following parameters in the central cornea: endothelial cells, subbasal nerves, and subbasal immune dendritic cells. RESULTS: Corneal ECD was significantly lower in the DED group (2595.8 {\textpm} 356.1 cells/mm(2)) than in the control group (2812.7 {\textpm} 395.2 cells/mm(2), P\&nbsp;= .046). The DED group showed significantly lower corneal subbasal nerve density (17.1 {\textpm} 6.9\&nbsp;mm/mm(2)) compared to the control group (24.7 {\textpm} 4.4\&nbsp;mm/mm(2), P \&lt; .001). Dendritic cell density was significantly higher in the DED group than in the controls (111.7 {\textpm} 137.3 vs 32.0 {\textpm} 24.4 cells/mm(2), respectively, P\&nbsp;= .002). There were statistically significant correlations between corneal ECD and dry eye severity parameters including the OSDI score (rs\&nbsp;=\&nbsp;-0.26, P\&nbsp;= .03), and corneal fluorescein staining (rs\&nbsp;=\&nbsp;-0.28, P\&nbsp;= .008). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant reduction in corneal ECD in DED that correlates with clinical severity of the disease.},
	issn = {1879-1891},
	doi = {10.1016/j.ajo.2015.03.011},
	author = {Kheirkhah, Ahmad and Saboo, Ujwala S and Abud, Tulio B and Dohlman, Thomas H and Arnoldner, Michael A and Hamrah, Pedram and Dana, Reza}
}
