{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,25]],"date-time":"2026-10-25T13:40:18Z","timestamp":1792935618082,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765929600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010269","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["221859\/Z\/20\/Z"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["221859\/Z\/20\/Z"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: To evaluate whether regional climatic factors, particularly relative humidity (RH) and temperature, are associated with geographic variation in dry eye disease (DED) prevalence in Argentina. Materials and Methods: A secondary analysis of a nationwide voluntary online cross-sectional survey of DED in Argentina (April 2022; non-probability sample; n = 10,812) was performed. Participants were assigned to one of five standard geopolitical regions. DED prevalence (%) was estimated at regional levels. Monthly mean, maximum, and minimum temperature and RH for April 2022 were obtained from the National Meteorological Service; for each province\/region, data corresponded to the principal synoptic station in the provincial capital. Because the survey and climate data were restricted to April, seasonal effects could not be evaluated. Region-level analyses of climate\u2013DED patterns were prespecified as exploratory and descriptive given the small number of regional units (n = 5). Weighted descriptive models were used to compare RH\u2013DED patterns while accounting for regional age and sex distributions. Results: Regional DED prevalence ranged from 37.7% (Northwest) to 49.8% (Cuyo). RH showed a clear inverse pattern with regional DED prevalence, whereas temperature showed no consistent relationship. Weighted descriptive models showed a similar qualitative RH\u2013DED pattern, although residual confounding cannot be excluded. Conclusions: DED prevalence in Argentina shows geographic variability and a descriptive inverse pattern with ambient RH. These ecological findings are hypothesis-generating and must be interpreted cautiously due to sampling bias. Future seasonal, longitudinal, or individual-level studies are needed to confirm and quantify these preliminary signals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina61122226","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T09:43:46Z","timestamp":1765964626000},"page":"2226","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Temperature, Humidity and Regional Prevalence of Dry Eye Disease in Argentina"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"61","author":[{"given":"Mar\u00eda C.","family":"Marini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Cornea and Ocular Surface Department, Hospital de Alta Complejidad El Cruce, Florencio Varela-Hospital Brit\u00e1nico, Buenos Aires B1888, Argentina"},{"name":"Cornea and Ocular Surface Department, Hospital Brit\u00e1nico, Buenos Aires City C1275AGB, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bel\u00e9n","family":"Liviero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocular Surface Department, Humana Centro M\u00e9dico, C\u00f3rdoba X5009LDF, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2214-7746","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rodrigo M.","family":"Torres","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R.O.M.A.T. Creator Center, Colonia Avellaneda E3107, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5118-2540","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jerem\u00edas G.","family":"Galletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Experimental Medicine, CONICET-National Academy of Medicine of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1425AUM, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2173-7952","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gustavo","family":"Galperin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hospital Oftalmol\u00f3gico Pedro Lagleyze, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1425CLA, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monica","family":"Alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-970, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jes\u00fas","family":"Merayo-Lloves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Oftalmol\u00f3gico Fernandez Vega, 33012 Oviedo, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajo.2025.05.040","article-title":"TFOS DEWS III: Digest","volume":"279","author":"Stapleton","year":"2025","journal-title":"Am. 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