Sensitivity and specificity of McMonnies Questionnaire in diagnosing dry eye syndrome among patients aged 40 years and above in Uganda

Abstract

Dry Eye Syndrome (DES) among patients aged 40 years and above attending Ruharo Eye Centre (REC).
Design: This was a cross-sectional hospital-based study.
Methods: The study was conducted during the months of September to December 2017. Both males (76) and
females (91) who were aged 40 years and above using convenient sampling were included. All participants were
screened for DES using McMonnies Questionnaire after which assessment for the signs of DES using Schirmer
I, TBUT and Rose Bengal tests were done. We entered data into Excel and exported into Stata 13.0 for analysis.
Results: A total of 167 patients were enrolled, 91 (54.49%) were females. The female to male ratio was 1.2:1. The
median age of the patients was 63 years (IQR: 54-72, range: 40-94). The median Schirmer I, TBUT and MQ scores
were 14 mm (IQR: 5-22, range: 1-35), 6.67 seconds (IQR: 3.33-17, range: 1-34.33) and 12 (IQR: 9-17 range of 2-27).
The prevalence of DES was 68%. The sensitivity and specificity of McMonnies Questionnaire in diagnosing DES
were 81.6% (95% CI, 73.2 - 88.2) and 39.6% (95% CI, 26.5 - 54) respectively.
Conclusion: The McMonnies Questionnaire had a high sensitivity (81.3%)but low specificity (36.9%) in diagnosing
DES. Therefore, when such a test is negative, it is good for ruling out DES but not suitable for identifying
people at risk of the disease.