ArticleCornea2018
Prevalence of Meibomian Gland Atrophy in a Pediatric Population.
Article in Cornea, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of dry eye disease among children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of a vectored thermal pulsation system (Lipiflow®) in the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy and Safety evaluation of a single thermal pulsation system treatment (LipiflowInternational ophthalmology · 2023Trial
- Management of Dry Eye Disease with Artificial Tears Containing Hyaluronic Acid and Trehalose: A Narrative Review.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- AI driven quantitative analysis of meibomian glands in children and adolescents: a benchmark dataset study.Eye and vision (London, England) · 2025Article
- Applied anatomy and morphology of Meibomian glands in the non-human primate.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The role of childhood overweight in meibomian gland dysfunction and dry eye disease in Chinese children.BMC ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Meibography Findings and Ocular Surface Parameters in Children with Atopic Dermatitis Without Eye Complaints.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Subclinical ocular surface changes in children with newly diagnosed allergy.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
- Association between insulin-like growth factor-1 and ocular surface parameters in obese prepubertal boys.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Comparison of manual versus automated thermal lid therapy with expression for meibomian gland dysfunction in patients with dry eye disease.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Factors affecting long-term changes of meibomian gland in MGD patients.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2024Article
- Dry eye disease: identification and therapeutic strategies for primary care clinicians and clinical specialists.Annals of medicine · 2023Review
- Non-contact meibography changes according to disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis cases.BMC ophthalmology · 2023Article
- Association of meibomian gland morphology with orifice plugging and lid margin thickening in meibomian gland dysfunction patients.International ophthalmology · 2023Article
- Morphologic variants of Meibomian glands: age-wise distribution and differences between upper and lower eyelids.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- The influence of congenital and developmental cataract surgery on the ocular surface in a six-month follow-up prospective clinical study.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Article
- Evaluation of the meibomian glands using the tear interferometer wearing orthokeratology lenses.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Article
- Topographic and specular microscopic evaluation of cornea and meibomian gland morphology in children with isolated growth hormone deficiency.International ophthalmology · 2021Article
- Proposed Algorithm for Management of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction Based on Noninvasive Meibography.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo report the prevalence of meibomian gland atrophy and gland tortuosity in a pediatric population.
methodsParticipants who presented with no history of dry eye disease or meibomian gland dysfunction were recruited from the Duke University Eye Center. Meibography was performed and subjective symptoms were assessed through the Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness (SPEED) questionnaire. Grading of images was assessed by a masked rater using a previously validated 5-point meiboscale (0-4) for gland atrophy and a 3-point scale for gland tortuosity (0-2).
resultsNinety-nine eyes of 99 participants (50 females) aged 4 to 17 years (mean 9.6 years) were imaged. The mean meiboscore was 0.58 ± 0.80 (mean ± SD) for gland atrophy and 0.45 ± 0.64 for tortuosity. In all subjects, 42% (n = 42) had any evidence of meibomian gland atrophy (meiboscore >0) and 37% (n = 37) had any evidence of meibomian gland tortuosity. The majority of subjects had mild gland atrophy. No significant association was found between age, sex, or race and presence of gland atrophy. Males were significantly more likely to have gland tortuosity (P = 0.0124, odds ratio 3.36).
conclusionsThis study reveals a relatively high level of mild meibomian gland atrophy in the pediatric population, though moderate-severe gland atrophy was also present in this young population. This calls into question our current understanding of baseline gland architecture and suggests that perhaps clinicians should be examining young patients for meibomian gland atrophy and dysfunction because it may have implications for future development of dry eye disease.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.