title: Age-related changes in tear menisci imaged by optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine age-related changes of tear menisci in healthy subjects and to compare tear variables between age-matched normals and dry eye subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anterior segment optical coherence tomography was used to measure upper and lower tear menisci in healthy subjects (n = 197, 8-83 years) and in age-matched dry eye patients (n = 38, 19-72 years). Measured tear variables included the height and area of the tear meniscus. Tear meniscus volumes were calculated based on the cross-sectional areas of the tear menisci and the eyelid lengths. The age-related decrease rates of the tear menisci were also calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant negative correlations between age and all tear meniscus dimensions (r ranged from -0.649 to -0.753; p < 0.05) in the healthy group. The rate of decrease for the total tear meniscus volume in healthy subjects was 1.0% per year. Compared with age-matched healthy subjects, the height, cross-sectional area, and volume of the upper and lower tear menisci in dry eye subjects were significantly smaller (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tear menisci decreased with age in the healthy group. The variables in age-matched dry eye subjects were significantly lower than those in the healthy group.
authors.affiliation: School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Lele
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Meixiao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ding
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Aizhu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D001767:Blinking; D002648:Child; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013500:Surface Tension; D013666:Tears / Q000378:metabolism*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult