Facing an enormous influx of information from medical research, clinicians need to differentiate robust study findings from spurious ones. The levels of evidence are an important component of Evidence-Based Medicine. Understanding the levels helps the Ophthalmologist to prioritize information and make right clinical decisions. The aim of this article is to describe the hierarchy of studies regarding their scientific evidence focusing on ophthalmology.

Em face a um enorme influxo de informações de pesquisa médica, os clínicos precisam diferenciar os achados de estudos robusto dos espúrios. Os níveis de evidência são um componente importante da Medicina Baseada em Evidências. Compreender os níveis ajuda ooftalmologista a priorizar as informações e tomar decisões clínicas corretas. O objetivo deste artigo é descrever a hierarquia dosestudos em relação à evidência científica com enfoque na oftalmologia.

Abstract Objective: To study the association of dry eye with lupus disease activity and cumulative damage. To verify if epidemiological, treatment and autoantibody profile of SLE (systemic Lupus erythematosus) patients influence the presence of dry eye. Methods: We studied 70 SLE patients for the presence of dry eye by Schirmer test, disease activity by SLEDAI (SLE-Disease activity index) and cumulative damage by SLICC/ACR DI (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index). Patients were also submitted to the […]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical results of Transepithelial Crosslinking (CXL) by analyzing its efficacy in patients with progressive keratoconus. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study with 49 eyes and 37 patients aged 10 to 50 years submitted to the CXL technique in 2017 at the Instituto Panamericano da Visão, in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. The Avedro KXL system was programmed in pulsed mode with interval (1/1 second), using 45 mW/cm² with 7.2 J and 0.25% riboflavin solution of Avedro with irradiated corneas for […]

Objective: To identify the most frequent diagnosis and epidemiological characteristics of patients attended in a public ophthalmic emergency service. Methods: This is a retrospective and transverse study based on 2834 patients’ chart attended from July to September 2017 at the Ouro Verde Hospital Complex, Campinas, Brazil. The following variables were investigated: age, gender, and diagnosis. Results: Most patients were male (52.6%) and aged between 30 to 59 years (43.5%); 21.1% were elderly. The most frequent diagnostics were conjunctivitis (23.9%), ocular […]

Objective: Blepharitis is one of the most commonly encountered conditions in ophthalmic practice and is a frequent cause of eye irritation and discomfort. Being a difficult to treat disease, the authors sought to better understand the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentations, treatment and evolution of their patients, aiming at greater therapeutic success. Methods: The medical records of 124 patients of Centro de Oftalmologia Tadeu Cvintal who had blepharitis were retrospectively and cross-sectionally evaluated and underwent severity classification and collection of eyelid […]