Clinical signs and symptoms in post‐menopausal females with symptoms of dry eye

PURPOSE: To characterize clinical signs and symptoms in a group of post-menopausal (PM) females who present with and without symptoms of dry eye. METHODS: Eighty-three healthy PM females were categorized as being symptomatic or asymptomatic of dry eye based on their response to the Allergan Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire. Non-invasive tear breakup time (NITBUT) was evaluated using the ALCON Eyemap. Tear volume was assessed using the phenol red thread (PRT) test and bulbar conjunctival hyperaemia was measured using objective and subjective methods. RESULTS: The total OSDI score (TOS) and subscores for the non-dry eye (NDE; n = 39) and dry eye (DE; n = 44) groups were significantly different (TOS: NDE = 7.43 +/- 7.71 vs DE = 24.87 +/- 13.89; p < 0.001). The DE group exhibited a shorter NITBUT (5.3 +/- 1.7 s vs 7.0 +/- 2.7 s; p = 0.0012). Tear volume was lower for the DE group (19.3 +/- 5.1 mm vs 16.3 +/- 5.6 mm; p = 0.031). Bulbar hyperaemia was higher in the DE group for both subjective grading using a modified CCLRU scale (48.4 +/- 10.0 vs 40.6 +/- 10.4; p = 0.0011) and objective measurement by spectrophotometer (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage u' value = 0.285 +/- 0.006 vs 0.282 +/- 0.006; p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: OSDI can be used to separate PM females who demonstrate clinical signs of ocular dryness. PM women with dry eye symptoms demonstrate shorter NITBUT, lower tear volume and increased bulbar conjunctival hyperaemia than those who have no symptoms.