Systematic review finds no link between oral contraceptive use and dry eye disease risk

Analysis of 12 observational studies by researchers from Griffith University in Australia has found no statistically significant connection between oral contraceptive use and dry eye disease risk.

The systematic review and meta-analysis, which was published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry, found that while oral contraceptive users had a shorter tear break up time compared to those who did not use the medication, this finding did not stand up to sensitivity analysis.

A reduction in tear production was also observed in oral contraceptive users – however, this was not statistically significant.

The review authors highlighted that the available literature exploring the connection between oral contraceptive use and dry eye disease risk is limited by small sample sizes, inconsistent diagnostic criteria and insufficiently detailed characterisation of contraceptive exposure.

“Future research should prioritise high-quality randomised controlled trials or observational studies using causal inference methods with adequate sample sizes, to better assess whether clinically meaningful differences exist,” the authors noted.