Review Article

The Effect of Hormone Replacement Therapy on Dry Eye Syndrome Evaluated with Schirmer Test and Break-Up Time

Table 1

Detailed protocols for the included studies.

StudyDetails of hormone administrationRCT studyFollow-up Jadad score
HRT groupControl group

Guaschino et al.,2003 [6]Equine conjugated estrogens 0.625 mg/day and dydrogesterone 5 mg/day in a continuous combined regimen; no ophthalmic treatment.No hormonal or ophthalmic treatment.Yes1 year3

Erdem et al., 2007 [14]Conjugated estrogen 0.625 mg/day and medroxyprogesterone acetate 5 mg/day in a continuous combined regimen; no dry eye medication was given.No hormone. Artificial tear products were allowed.No3 months0

Affinito et al., 2003 [7]Transdermal 17β-estradiol (E2), 50 µg/day, and medroxyprogesterone acetate 10 mg/day for 12 days per cycle.No hormonal or ophthalmic treatment.Yes3 months and 6 months4

Taner et al., 2004 [15]Estradiol plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (Premelle 5 mg), one tablet, qid.No hormonal or ophthalmic treatment.No6 months0

Scuderi et al., 2012 [13]Phytoestrogen, one tablet, bid for 1 month; artificial tear products were allowed. Placebo tablet. Artificial tear products were allowed. Yes 1 month 6
Scuderi et al., 2012 [13] 
(reversed group)
Lacrisek tablet. Each Lacrisek tablet contained α-lipoic acid (100 mg), eicosapentaenoic acid (240 mg), and extract of fenugreek (200 mg), which contains diosgenin (1.3%), steroidal saponins (50%), and alkaloids; artificial tear products were allowed.

HRT: hormone replacement therapy; RCT: randomly controlled trial.