title: Meibomian gland dysfunction: endocrine aspects.
abstract: Purpose. To compare the hormone levels of patients with seborrheic meibomian gland dysfunction with controls. Procedures. This is a retrospective case-control study involving 50 patients and 50 controls. Blood workup for hormones was studied in both groups by using macroELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Statistical evaluation was done by using SPSS 15.0 independent samples t-test. Results. There were statistically significant differences of serum testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels between patients and controls (P = 0.000). Female gender showed statistically significant differences of serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and prolactin levels between patients and controls (P = 0.014 and P = 0.043), in addition to serum testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels (P = 0.000 and P = 0.001). However, male gender showed statistically significant differences of only serum testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels between patients and controls. (P = 0.003 and P = 0.003 resp.). Conclusions. Increased serum levels of testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate in both genders should be considered as diagnostic markers for seborrheic meibomian gland dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, College of Health Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elçin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kartal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Health Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nusret
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Taheri