Diagnostic Significance of Questionnaires in Patients with Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction

Tearing is a common complaint that reduces the quality of life and can lead to social desadaptation of the patient. To objectively assess the patient’s condition and personalize medical care, it is necessary to take into account the physiological, psychological and social factors that determine the effect of tearing on the quality of life. The tool for such an assessment is a questionnaire. Currently, the most widely used questionnaires for determining the effect of tearing on the patient’s quality of life are the Lac-Q and WEQOL questionnaires. Most often, they are used to evaluate the effectiveness of surgical treatment. However, there is no data related to patient questioning for detection of nasolacrimal duct obstruction. Purpose : Determination of the diagnostic significance of questioning patients with nasolacrimal duct obstruction. Material and methods . Two groups of patients (93 people) were interviewed using the Lac-Q and WEQOL questionnaires translated into Russian. The first group consisted of 55 patients with confirmed nasolacrimal duct obstruction. The second group included 38 patients with proper tear drainage. The results of interviewing were analyzed: ROC analysis was carried out to determine the threshold score for predicting nasolacrimal duct obstruction, as well as the sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaires. In addition, we performed correlation and comparative analysis. Differences were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05. Results . Analysis of the obtained results showed that the threshold score for inclusion of the patient in the “nasolacrimal duct obstruction” group for both questionnaires is at least 6 points. The WEQOL questionnaire demonstrated a higher level of correlation between questions and the total score and higher sensitivity and specificity (97.4 % and 98.2 %; AUC = 0.993) compared to the Lac-Q questionnaire (94.7 % and 98.2 %; AUC = 0.921). Conclusion . The Lac-Q and WEQOL questionnaires are admissible to predict the presence of nasolacrimal duct obstruction. Development of a more specific and less excessive questionnaire for prediction of nasolacrimal duct obstruction requires further research.