LIGHT AND THE EYE IN WINTER SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER

环境光暴露与生物异常的作用 冬季的季节性干旱是未知的。 我们一直在追求眼科 SAD的病理生理学沿着两条线：眼睛的光暴露， 眼睛对光的反应。 检查SAD患者是否 居住环境与没有居住环境的人不同的光照 SAD，我们使用光监测器评估环境光暴露， 在13中由人眼感测的测量的环境光水平 患者和13名年龄和性别匹配的对照。 我们没有发现差异 两个群体之间。 考虑SAD患者 有异常的眼内压，这个变量可能是 对光疗法敏感，我们检查了14例 抑郁症患者和14名年龄和性别匹配的正常对照者 在两周的时间里，受试者接受了光照， 疗法 我们发现两组之间或两组之间没有差异。 光疗法的两个条件。 评估光照的季节变化 敏感性，我们评估了11个冬季和夏季的暗适应 无药物治疗的患者和19名对照。 我们发现， 这两个群体或跨季节。 复制之前的报告 在SAD中，我们测量了16例SAD患者的异常眼电图比率， 患者和16名年龄，性别和药物匹配的对照组， 经过一周的光疗后 平均EOG比值显著高于对照组， 患者低于对照组。 光疗法没有效果 根据比例。 我们计划继续调查 通过在患者中重复这些研究， 志愿者在夏季 我们亦计划研究 增强光敏感性的药理学方法 SAD可能对患有这种综合征的患者有益。

The role of environmental light exposure and the biological abnormalities responsible for winter SAD are unknown. We have pursued the ophthalmic pathophysiology of SAD along two lines: light exposure to the eye, and the response of the eye to light. To examine whether patients with SAD inhabited environments with different light exposure from people without SAD, we evaluated ambient light exposure using a light monitor that measured environmental light levels as sensed by the human eye in 13 patients and 13 age- and sex-matched controls. We found no difference between the two groups. To consider the possibility that SAD patients have abnormal intraocular pressures and that this variable may be sensitive to light therapy, we examined intraocular pressure in 14 depressed patients and 14 age- and sex-matched normal controls subjects before and after periods of two weeks in which subjects received light therapy. We found no difference between the two groups or between the two conditions of light therapy. To assess seasonal changes in light sensitivity, we evaluated dark adaptation in winter and summer in 11 medication-free patients and 19 controls. We found no difference between the two groups or across seasons. To replicate a prior report of abnormal electrooculogram ratios in SAD, we measured this variable in 16 patients and 16 age-, sex-, and medication-matched controls before and after one week of light therapy. The mean EOG ratios were significantly lower in patients than in controls. There was no effect of light therapy upon the ratios. We plan to continue our investigation of electrooculographic abnormalities by repeating these studies in patients and volunteers during the summer season. We also plan to study whether pharmacological methods of enhancing light sensitivity in patients with SAD might prove beneficial to patients with this syndrome.