Predictive clinical factors for ocular dryness in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the predictive clinical factors for ocular dryness and for the nursing diagnosis Risk for dry eye in the ocular surface of hospitalized adult patients in an intensive care unit.

METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and July 2016, with 206 patients (412 eyes). An inference about the presence of the diagnosis in the evaluated patients was performed by diagnostic nurses. The descriptive and inferential statistics subsidized the data analysis.

RESULTS

47.6% of the patients presented Risk for dry eye, and 52.4% were already diagnosed with ocular dryness. Statistical differences between the ocular dryness diagnosis in the right eye with hyperemia, mucous secretion, eyelid edema and lagophthalmia were identified. In addition, statistical differences were observed between hyperemia and eyelid edema with Risk for dry eye in the left eye and with the nursing diagnosis Risk for dry eye.

CONCLUSION

Hyperemia, mucous secretion, eyelid edema and lagophthalmia are the predictive clinical factors for the nursing diagnosis Risk for dry eye and also of ocular dryness in the intensive care unit environment which deserve special attention in the preventive evaluation.