Table 1.

Detailed protocols for the included studies.

Study	Details of hormone administration		RCT study	Follow-up	Jadad score
	HRT group	Control group
Guaschino et al.,2003 [6]	Equine conjugated estrogens 0.625 mg/day and dydrogesterone 5 mg/day in a continuous combined regimen; no ophthalmic treatment.	No hormonal or ophthalmic treatment.	Yes	1 year	3
Erdem et al., 2007 [14]	Conjugated estrogen 0.625 mg/day and medroxyprogesterone acetate 5 mg/day in a continuous combined regimen; no dry eye medication was given.	No hormone. Artificial tear products were allowed.	No	3 months	0
Affinito et al., 2003 [7]	Transdermal 17β-estradiol (E2), 50 µg/day, and medroxyprogesterone acetate 10 mg/day for 12 days per cycle.	No hormonal or ophthalmic treatment.	Yes	3 months and 6 months	4
Taner et al., 2004 [15]	Estradiol plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (Premelle 5 mg), one tablet, qid.	No hormonal or ophthalmic treatment.	No	6 months	0
Scuderi et al., 2012 [13]	Phytoestrogen, one tablet, bid for 1 month; artificial tear products were allowed.	Placebo tablet. Artificial tear products were allowed.	Yes	1 month	6
Scuderi et al., 2012 [13]  (reversed group)	Lacrisek tablet. Each Lacrisek tablet contained α-lipoic acid (100 mg), eicosapentaenoic acid (240 mg), and extract of fenugreek (200 mg), which contains diosgenin (1.3%), steroidal saponins (50%), and alkaloids; artificial tear products were allowed.

HRT: hormone replacement therapy; RCT: randomly controlled trial.