BACKGROUND Tear film stability is the key event in ocular surface diseases. The purpose of this study is to evaluate spatial and temporal progression of the tear film breakup using an automatic non-invasive device. METHODS Non-invasive tear breakup time (NITBUT) parameters, such as First NITBUT (F-NITBUT) and Average NITBUT (A-NITBUT), were evaluated in 132 glaucoma and 87 control eyes with the Keratograph 5 M device. Further analysis of this data was used to determine size, location and progression of tear film breakup with automatically identified breakup areas (BUA). The progression from First BUA (F-BUA) to total BUA (T-BUA) was expressed as Dry Area Growth Rate (DAGR). Differences between both groups were analysed using Student t-test for parametric data and Mann-Whitney U test for non-parametric data. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between parametric variables and Spearman in the case of non-parametric variables. RESULTS F-NITBUT was 11.43 ± 7.83 s in the control group and 8.17 ± 5.73 in the glaucoma group (P = 0.010). A-NITBUT was 14.04 ± 7.21 and 11.82 ± 6.09 s in control and glaucoma groups, respectively (P = 0.028). F-BUA was higher in the glaucoma group than in the control group (2.73 and 2.28; P = 0.022) and was more frequently located at the centre of the cornea in the glaucoma group (P = 0.039). T-BUA was also higher in the glaucoma group than in the control group (13.24 and 9.76%; P = 0.012) and the DAGR was steeper in the glaucoma group than in the control group (34.38° and 27.15°; P = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS Shorter NITBUT values and bigger, more central tear film breakup locations were observed in the glaucoma group than in the control group. The DAGR indicates that tear film rupture is bigger and increases faster in glaucomatous eyes than in normal eyes.

中文翻译：

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青光眼患者的眼表分析和泪膜破裂位置，延伸和进展的自动非侵入性评估。

背景技术泪膜稳定性是眼表疾病中的关键事件。这项研究的目的是使用自动无创设备评估泪膜破裂的时空进展。方法使用Keratograph 5 M装置在132例青光眼和87例对照眼中评估了非侵入性泪液破裂时间（NITBUT）参数，例如First NITBUT（F-NITBUT）和Average NITBUT（A-NITBUT）。对该数据的进一步分析用于确定泪膜破裂的大小，位置和进展，并自动识别破裂区域（BUA）。从第一BUA（F-BUA）到总BUA（T-BUA）的进展表示为干旱地区增长率（DAGR）。使用学生t检验对参数数据进行分析，并使用Mann-Whitney U检验对非参数数据进行分析，以分析两组之间的差异。皮尔逊 的相关系数用于评估非参数变量情况下参数变量与Spearman之间的关系。结果对照组的F-NITBUT为11.43±7.83 s，青光眼组的F-NITBUT为8.17±5.73（P = 0.010）。对照组和青光眼组的A-NITBUT分别为14.04±7.21和11.82±6.09 s（P = 0.028）。青光眼组的F-BUA高于对照组（2.73和2.28； P = 0.022），青光眼组的F-BUA更为频繁地位于角膜中心（P = 0.039）。青光眼组的T-BUA也高于对照组（13.24和9.76％; P = 0.012），青光眼组的DAGR较对照组（34.38°和27.15°; P = 0.009）更高。结论较短的NITBUT值和较大的值，青光眼组比对照组观察到更多的中央泪膜破裂位置。DAGR表明，青光眼眼的泪膜破裂比正常人的眼泪膜破裂更大，并且增加得更快。