Table 2 Associations between participant characteristics and dry eye symptoms and signs

Not severe

Severe

P-value

Normal/Mild

Moderate/Severe

P-value

No

Yes

P-value

No

Yes

P-value

Median (IQR)

P-value

Median (IQR)

P-value

Job type

0.35

0.76

0.16

1.00

0.43

0.68

 Clinical

11 (55%)

9 (45%)

10 (50%)

10 (50%)

7 (35%)

13 (65%)

6 (30%)

14 (70%)

3.65 (2.29–5.19)

69 (59–83)

 Non-clinical

8 (38%)

13 (62%)

9 (43%)

12 (57%)

3 (14%)

18 (86%)

7 (33%)

14 (67%)

2.56 (1.85–4.64)

68 (51–80)

Age group

0.07

0.20

0.14

1.00

0.01

0.55

 < 30

8 (50%)

8 (50%)

5 (31%)

11 (69%)

3 (19%)

13 (81%)

5 (31%)

11 (69%)

2.90 (2.20–6.93)

68 (54–86)

 30–39

9 (64%)

5 (36%)

9 (64%)

5 (36%)

6 (43%)

8 (57%)

4 (29%)

10 (71%)

4.82 (3.32–5.48)

64 (56–72)

 ≥ 40

2 (18%)

9 (82%)

5 (45%)

6 (55%)

1 (9%)

10 (91%)

4 (36%)

7 (64%)

2.33 (1.40–2.67)

74 (48–94)

Sex

0.03

0.03

0.40

0.70

0.30

0.01

 Female

11 (35%)

20 (65%)

11 (35%)

20 (65%)

9 (29%)

22 (71%)

9 (29%)

22 (71%)

2.56 (2.10–4.89)

72 (57–90)

 Male

8 (80%)

2 (20%)

8 (80%)

2 (20%)

1 (10%)

9 (90%)

4 (40%)

6 (60%)

4.69 (1.83–6.17)

57 (48–64)

Race

0.73

0.73

0.22

0.27

0.15

0.13

 White

13 (50%)

13 (50%)

13 (50%)

13 (50%)

8 (31%)

18 (69%)

10 (38%)

16 (62%)

3.46 (2.34–5.48)

71 (64–82)

 Non-white

5 (42%)

7 (58%)

5 (42%)

7 (58%)

1 (8%)

11 (92%)

2 (17%)

10 (83%)

2.38 (1.84–4.17)

60 (50–75)

Ethnicity

1.00

0.70

0.65

1.00

0.58

0.74

 Non-Hispanic

15 (45%)

18 (55%)

16 (48%)

17 (52%)

9 (27%)

24 (73%)

11 (33%)

22 (67%)

3.32 (2.29–4.98)

68 (57–81)

 Hispanic

4 (50%)

4 (50%)

3 (38%)

5 (63%)

1 (13%)

7 (88%)

2 (25%)

6 (75%)

2.48 (1.81–5.06)

61 (49–90)

Household income

0.71

0.34

0.44

0.53

0.06

0.41

 <$50,000

7 (54%)

6 (46%)

5 (38%)

8 (62%)

4 (31%)

9 (69%)

6 (46%)

7 (54%)

4.64 (2.34–7.09)

64 (51–80)

 $50,000-$99,999

6 (38%)

10 (63%)

7 (44%)

9 (56%)

2 (13%)

14 (88%)

4 (25%)

12 (75%)

2.31 (1.84–3.19)

71 (64–87)

 ≥$100,000

5 (50%)

5 (50%)

7 (70%)

3 (30%)

3 (30%)

7 (70%)

3 (30%)

7 (70%)

3.82 (2.56–5.40)

65 (46–76)

Current smoker

0.24

1.00

0.14

0.23

0.34

0.92

 No

19 (50%)

19 (50%)

18 (47%)

20 (53%)

8 (21%)

30 (79%)

11 (29%)

27 (71%)

3.19 (2.29–4.98)

68 (54–81)

 Yes

0 (0%)

3 (100%)

1 (33%)

2 (67%)

2 (67%)

1 (33%)

2 (67%)

1 (33%)

1.51 (1.35–9.16)

74 (37–82)

Average screen time

0.003

0.12

0.90

0.52

0.17

0.03

 0–4 h

6 (75%)

2 (25%)

5 (63%)

3 (38%)

2 (25%)

6 (75%)

3 (38%)

5 (63%)

4.27 (3.65–6.04)

60 (51–92)

 5–7 h

10 (67%)

5 (33%)

9 (60%)

6 (40%)

3 (20%)

12 (80%)

3 (20%)

12 (80%)

3.32 (2.29–4.98)

64 (49–70)

 8 + hours

3 (17%)

15 (83%)

5 (28%)

13 (72%)

5 (28%)

13 (72%)

7 (39%)

11 (61%)

2.44 (1.85–5.40)

75 (68–91)

Screen time most recent shift

0.0003

0.18

1.00

0.61

0.15

0.02

 0–4 h

5 (63%)

3 (38%)

5 (63%)

3 (38%)

2 (25%)

6 (75%)

3 (38%)

5 (63%)

4.27 (2.61–6.04)

59 (43–92)

 5–7 h

13 (72%)

5 (28%)

10 (56%)

8 (44%)

4 (22%)

14 (78%)

4 (22%)

14 (78%)

3.34 (2.44–4.98)

64 (51–70)

 8 + hours

1 (7%)

14 (93%)

4 (27%)

11 (73%)

4 (27%)

11 (73%)

6 (40%)

9 (60%)

2.33 (1.40–5.40)

76 (70–94)

Dry eye diagnosis

0.75

0.75

1.00

0.04

0.64

0.40

 No

12 (50%)

12 (50%)

12 (50%)

12 (50%)

6 (25%)

18 (75%)

11 (46%)

13 (54%)

2.94 (2.08–6.12)

67 (53–77)

 Yes

7 (41%)

10 (59%)

7 (41%)

10 (59%)

4 (24%)

13 (76%)

2 (12%)

15 (88%)

3.05 (2.10–4.64)

72 (56–82)

Dry eye treatment

1.00

0.28

0.26

0.91

0.91

0.30

 OTC only

6 (50%)

6 (50%)

8 (67%)

4 (33%)

4 (33%)

8 (67%)

3 (25%)

9 (75%)

3.55 (2.01–5.58)

62 (50–70)

 OTC plus other

7 (44%)

9 (56%)

6 (38%)

10 (63%)

5 (31%)

11 (69%)

6 (38%)

10 (63%)

2.86 (2.08–4.62)

73 (53–87)

 None

6 (46%)

7 (54%)

5 (38%)

8 (62%)

1 (8%)

12 (92%)

4 (31%)

9 (69%)

2.44 (2.10–4.74)

71 (63–80)

Treatment success

0.16

0.68

0.08

1.00

0.40

0.48

 Successful

10 (63%)

6 (38%)

9 (56%)

7 (44%)

7 (44%)

9 (56%)

5 (31%)

11 (69%)

3.82 (2.43–5.79)

64 (53–73)

 Not successful

3 (25%)

9 (75%)

5 (42%)

7 (58%)

2 (17%)

10 (83%)

4 (33%)

8 (67%)

2.55 (1.85–3.38)

73 (48–96)

 No treatment

6 (46%)

7 (54%)

5 (38%)

8 (62%)

1 (8%)

12 (92%)

4 (31%)

9 (69%)

2.44 (2.10–4.74)

71 (63–80)

Facemask type

0.65

0.05

1.00

1.00

0.65

0.21

 N95

3 (60%)

2 (40%)

0 (0%)

5 (100%)

1 (20%)

4 (80%)

1 (20%)

4 (80%)

2.56 (2.34–3.37)

56 (49–68)

 Surgical or cloth

16 (44%)

20 (56%)

19 (53%)

17 (47%)

9 (25%)

27 (75%)

12 (33%)

24 (67%)

3.19 (1.86–5.44)

70 (56–83)

Facemask worn properly

1.00

0.68

1.00

0.40

0.63

0.46

 No

3 (43%)

4 (57%)

4 (57%)

3 (43%)

2 (29%)

5 (71%)

1 (14%)

6 (86%)

2.67 (1.51–3.85)

54 (46–94)

 Yes

16 (47%)

18 (53%)

15 (44%)

19 (56%)

8 (24%)

26 (76%)

12 (35%)

22 (65%)

3.19 (2.10–5.40)

69 (57–81)

Facemask wearing duration at the most recently concluded shift*

0.37

0.45

0.60

0.21

0.74

0.24

 < 8 h

10 (63%)

6 (38%)

8 (50%)

8 (50%)

4 (25%)

12 (75%)

4 (25%)

12 (75%)

3.34 (2.50–4.24)

64 (49–79)

 8 h

5 (42%)

7 (58%)

7 (58%)

5 (42%)

2 (17%)

10 (83%)

2 (17%)

10 (83%)

2.31 (1.98–6.08)

66 (53–72)

> 8 h

4 (33%)

8 (67%)

4 (33%)

8 (67%)

4 (33%)

8 (67%)

6 (50%)

6 (50%)

2.60 (1.54–5.79)

75 (63–96)

Periocular humidity

 Masked

1.00

0.12

0.28

0.74

0.62

0.07

 ≤Median

10 (48%)

11 (52%)

7 (33%)

14 (67%)

7 (33%)

14 (67%)

6 (29%)

15 (71%)

2.56 (2.10–3.85)

64 (49–71)

 >Median

9 (45%)

11 (55%)

12 (60%)

8 (40%)

3 (15%)

17 (85%)

7 (35%)

13 (65%)

3.51 (2.07–5.83)

73 (62–91)

 Maskless

0.76

0.12

0.72

0.51

0.51

0.22

 ≤Median

9 (43%)

12 (57%)

7 (33%)

14 (67%)

6 (29%)

15 (71%)

8 (38%)

13 (62%)

3.37 (2.33–5.40)

65 (49–77)

 >Median

10 (50%)

10 (50%)

12 (60%)

8 (40%)

4 (20%)

16 (80%)

5 (25%)

15 (75%)

2.81 (1.84–4.94)

71 (62–87)