Ocular hypertensive effect of menopause with and without systemic hypertension.
BACKGROUND
Mean intraocular pressure in postmenopausal women is higher than that in menstruating women. Intraocular pressure is positively correlated with systemic blood pressure. No previous study has compared intraocular pressure in postmenopausal women with systemic hypertension and those without.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of menopause on intraocular pressure in subjects with and without high blood pressure, after eliminating those factors that can affect intraocular pressure.


METHODS
Normotensive menstruating and menopausal, along with hypertensive menopausal subjects of the same age groups were studied. Intraocular pressure was measured with the Goldmann applanation tonometer.


RESULTS
The mean intraocular pressure of the normotensive and hypertensive postmenopausal women were 0.73+/-0.27 (p<0.05), and 1.09+/-0.34 (p<0.01) mmHg higher than normotensive menstruating women respectively. The mean intraocular pressure of hypertensive postmenopausal women was 0.36+/-0.15 mmHg (p<0.05) higher than that of normotensive postmenopausal women.


CONCLUSIONS
Menopause significantly increases intraocular pressure. Mean intraocular pressure of hypertensive postmenopausal women was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of normotensive postmenopausal women. Knowledge of the normal level of intraocular pressure during various stages of female sexual life may help glaucoma screeners.
Qureshi
I A
IA
Department of Physiology, Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan.
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D009798:Ocular Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D017698:Postmenopause; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular