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Measurement of tear osmolarity in the canine eye: a new diagnostic tool for canine keratoconjunctivitis sicca?

In this study the osmolarity of the canine tear film as measured by the TearLab 
 micro-osmometer was compared with the Schirmer Tear Test I (STT) in 100 dogs 
 from the patient population at the Queen’s Veterinary School hospital, University of 
 Cambridge and a UK animal rehoming facility. 153 eyes were ophthalmoscopically 
 normal and 47 had varying degrees of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) as determined 
 by STT values below 15mm/min. 
Animals underwent a full ophthalmic examination and then were sampled using 
 the TearLab device to measure tear osmolarity followed by a standard Schirmer tear 
 test I. Tear osmolality in eyes with normal tear production was compared to that in 
 eyes with KCS using the Student’s T test. Correlation between STT and osmolarity data 
 was investigated using the Pearson rank correlation coefficient. Tear osmolality was 
 significantly higher in eyes with KCS (350 ± 27 mOsm) than in normal eyes (339 ± 23 
 mOsm) this difference significant at p<0.02. As high tear omolarity is considered to 
 be a key factor in the pathogenesis of ocular surface damage in eyes with aqueous 
 tear film deficiency in human patients, measuring tear film osmolarity in dogs with 
 suspected KCS may be an important diagnostic step in these animals.