Articles about Eye Health and Disease 2002
A Smaller Study finds no Association of Hormone Replacement Therapy
to Dry Eye Syndrome in Women
(From Mathers WD, MD, Ophthalmology Times 3/1/2002:44-45.)
(Note: See the above article concerning hormone replacement therapy and dry eye in women also).
Studies have indicated an association between dry eye syndrome and hormone replacement therapy use in post-menopausal women.
Dr. William D. Mathers of the Oregon Health Sciences University's Casey Eye Institute looked into this
possibility by determining whether women undergoing hormone replacement therapy had fewer
or greater symptoms of dry
eye during menopause, compared to women not taking hormone replacements.
128 women between 35 to 60 years old were evaluated for symptoms of dry
eye, hormone replacement status, tear function (tear flow, tear volume,
Schirmer test, and osmolarity of tears). Blood levels of estradiol
(estrogen), total testosterone (male hormone), and other hormones were
also measured.
The researchers defined a patient as having dry eye based
on results from 213 normal subjects. Based on these normal results,
a patient from the study group of 128 was determined to have dry eye if
there was one abnormal value. If an individual had any symptoms of
dry eye, they were also categorized as having dry eye syndrome.
The
study had the following findings:
-
Increasing age was a risk factor for dry eye symptoms, and this increased continually as age increased.
-
Menopause itself was a risk factor for dry eye, as was a positive Schirmer test (an office test that
measures the production of tears over a set period of time).
-
There was found to be no difference between dry eye symptoms or dry eye findings between participants
who were taking hormone replacement therapy and those who were not. 53% of women undergoing hormone replacement therapy
had symptoms of dry eye, compared to 47% who were not taking replacement therapy. 34% of menopausal
women had at least one abnormal measurement indicating dry eye.
Generally, the study found that while tear production does decline with age, it does not appear to suddenly
drop at menopause. The researchers commented that there was an increase in dry eye symptoms and complaints
at menopause, but that this possibly was related to a drop in androgen levels (male hormones found in
low amounts in women that stimulate tear production) at menopause rather than hormone replacement use.
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