The Effect of Menopause on the Sexual Dimorphism in the Human Retina – Texture Analysis of Optical Coherence Tomography Data

Abstract

Sexual dimorphism in the human retina has recently been connected to gonadal hormones. In the study herein presented, texture analysis was applied to computed mean value fundus (MVF) images from optical coherence tomography data of female and male healthy adult controls. Two separate age-group analyses that excluded the probable perimenopause period of the women in the present study were performed, using a modified MVF image computation method that further highlights texture differences present in the retina. While distinct texture characteristics were found between premenopausal females and age-matched males, these differences almost disappeared in the older groups (postmenopausal women vs age-matched men), suggesting that sex-related texture differences in the retina can be correlated to the hormonal changes that women go through during the menopausal transition. These findings suggest that texture-based metrics may be used as biomarkers of physiology and pathophysiology of the retina and the central nervous system.