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IOP-reducing effect of hormone therapy likely driven by estrogen
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Postmenopausal women with a hysterectomy who received estrogen-alone treatment had a significantly lower IOP than women who received placebo 5 years after initiation of estrogen treatment, according to researchers in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Vajaranant and colleagues analyzed IOP data from the Women’s Health Initiative Sight Exam (WHISE) study.
IOP was measured 5 years after baseline in two groups: women with prior hysterectomy randomized to either conjugated equine estrogens or placebo and women with a uterus randomized to conjugated equine estrogens combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate or placebo.
In the estrogen-alone trial, for right eyes, the mean IOP was 15.4 ± 3.2 mm Hg in the active treatment group and 15.8 ± 3.3 mmHg in the placebo group. For left eyes, the mean IOP was 15.3 ± 3.1 mm Hg in the active treatment group and 15.9 ± 3.2 mm Hg in the placebo group, according to the study.
Estrogen-alone treatment was associated with a 0.5 mm Hg lower IOP in the right eye and a 0.6 mm Hg lower IOP in the left eye when compared to the IOP in the placebo group.
Researchers found no significant difference in IOP between the active treatment and placebo groups in the estrogen-plus-progestin trial.
“Our findings suggest that treatment with estrogen alone, but not estrogen plus progestin, leads to small but statistically significant declines in IOP in postmenopausal women of 65 years and older,” the researchers concluded. – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: Vajaranant received research support from Bausch + Lomb, Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Allergan. Please see the full study for all other authors’ remaining financial disclosures.
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