Dry Eye in Post-menopausal Women Visiting Community Eye Centre: An Observational Study

TL;DR

This study found that most postmenopausal women visiting a community eye center had dry eye disease, which is often undiagnosed and linked to age and menopause duration.

Contribution

The study provides new prevalence data on dry eye disease in postmenopausal women and highlights its association with age and duration of menopause.

Findings

71.88% of postmenopausal women had dry eye disease.

77.45% of women with over 10 years of menopause had dry eye.

Dry eye severity increased with age and duration of menopause.

Abstract

Dry eye disease is one of the common disorders that may lead to severe ocular complications, visual impairment or even blindness and sometimes may be a manifestation of underlying systemic disease. Postmenopausal women are one of the most common groups to be affected by dry eye. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of dry eye in postmenopausal women and to describe its distribution according to age and duration of menopause.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in a community eye center in Bhaktapur from January 2022 to December 2022. The ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional review committee of Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (Reference no 27/2021). Detailed history and ocular examinations along with Schirmer test and Tear Film Break Up Time were performed.

A total of 384 postmenopausal women were enrolled in the study. 276 (71.88%) patients had dry eye disease.100 (36.23%) patients belonged to 60-69 years of age group. 69 (25%) patients had mild dry eye, 112 (40.58%) patients had moderate dry eye and 95 (34.42%) patients had severe dry eye. Among 235 women with >10 years duration of menopause, 182 (77.45%) patients had dry eye.

Dry eye is the common disorder that occurs in postmenopausal women, that is highly undiagnosed. The increase in age and duration of menopause are related to dry eye.