At the American Academy of Optometry meeting, Meredith Bishop, OD, MS, FAAO, of Johnson & Johnson, presented a study that found 76% of eye care professionals recognized the overlap between perimenopause and presbyopia, but 56% did not initiate broader conversations beyond vision care with their patients.
Meredith Bishop, OD, MS, FAAO:
Hi, I’m Dr. Meredith Bishop and I’m the director of Global Medical Education at Johnson & Johnson. Today, I’m talking to you about my poster at the American Academy of Optometry meeting titled “Perception of Linking Presbyopia with Perimenopause: A Survey of U.S. Female Eye Care Professionals.”
A little bit of background: presbyopia and perimenopause converge in midlife, yet the overlap of these 2 is rarely discussed. We know with perimenopause, we begin to see changes in hormones. These can produce ocular and systemic symptoms. The TFOS Lifestyle Report identified hormonal influences on ocular surface health as an important yet underrecognized factor. We feel this awareness is still limited, and we wanted to get more information on what eye care professionals were seeing in their patients, as well as their perception to additional education on this matter.
We did a online survey with 75 US-based female optometrists, ages 35 and older. We ended up with the mean age of around 41 with the average years in practice of 14. What we found was that 68% of the ECPs reported that their female presbyopic patients were frequently expressing emotions about their changing vision with age. The most common emotions reported were feeling too young for these changes and frustration or irritation; 55% of the ECPs reported that their female presbyopic patients frequently mentioned other physical or emotional symptoms beyond vision, with the most common being dry eye, then headache and perimenopause or menopause symptoms.
The biggest finding was that there was a gap between awareness and conversation; 76% of ECPs recognized the overlap between perimenopause and presbyopia. However, 56% did not initiate broader conversations beyond vision care with their patients. The main reason they didn’t initiate further conversation was time, lack of expertise, or discomfort with the topic.
But we know that patients are already driving the conversation and raising the topic. We just really see this as a huge opportunity to expand the role of eye care in women’s health. In conclusion, Johnson & Johnson is committed to providing support for both eye care professionals and patients, and we look forward to sharing more exciting developments in this space soon.
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