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We aim to evaluate the risk of dry eye disease (DED) occurrence in patients with surgery-indicated chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) via the national health insurance research database in Taiwan. After exclusion, patients with a diagnostic code of CRS and had received functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) were regarded as having surgery-indicated CRS and enrolled in the study group, then each patient in the study group was age- and gender-matched to four non-CRS patients that served as the control group. The outcome was considered as the development of DED and Cox proportional hazard regression was used for the statistical analysis, which involved multiple potential risk factors of DED. A total of 6076 patients with surgery-indicated CRS that received FESS and another 24,304 non-CRS individuals were enrolled after exclusion. There were 317 and 770 DED events in the study group and the control group during the 16-year follow-up interval, and the study group demonstrated a significantly higher adjusted hazard ratio (1490, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.303-1.702) of DED development compared to the control group in the multivariable analysis. In addition, the cumulative probability analysis illustrated a positive correlation of DED occurrence and the disease period of surgery-indicated CRS ( p < 0.0001). In the subgroup analysis, both genders revealed a higher but not significant incidence of developing DED in the study group. In conclusion, the existence of surgery-indicated CRS will increase the risk of developing DED, which correlated to the disease interval., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the risk of developing keratopathy in patients with surgery-indicated chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) via the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Patients with a diagnostic code of CRS and who received functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) were considered to have surgery-indicated CRS. The exclusion criteria were legal blindness, an ocular tumor, eyeball removal or previous keratopathy, and each individual in the study group was matched to four non-CRS patients by age and sex. The outcome was set as the occurrence of keratopathy according to the diagnostic codes after the index date. Cox proportional hazard regression was used for statistical analysis. A total of 6053 patients with surgery-indicated CRS and another 24,212 non-CRS individuals were enrolled after exclusions. The age and sex distributions were identical between the two groups due to matching, while comorbidities, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and other cardiovascular disorders, were significantly higher in the study group. There were 231 episodes of keratopathy in the study group, and 695 episodes of keratopathy in the control group after the index date, for which study group showed a significantly higher rate of developing keratopathy with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.208 and a higher cumulative probability. In subgroup analysis, female sex with surgery-indicated CRS showed a significantly greater risk of developing keratopathy. In conclusion, surgery-indicated CRS that needs FESS to relieve symptoms is a potential risk factor for keratopathy.