Abstract: AIM: To investigate the effect of SSRI antidepressant sertraline on ocular surface function in patients with postpartum depression.METHODS: This was a prospective case-control study. Forty-three patients diagnosed as postpartum depression receiving sertraline for the first time were investigated with the HAMD, OSDI, TBUT, SIT, FL, tear osmolarity and IL-6, MMP-9 before medication and 2 months after medication. The changes of dry eye indexes before and after medication were compared.RESULTS:After 2 months of medication, HAMD score was significantly decreased, with statistically significant differences (P<0.01). There was no correlation between efficacy of medication and dry eye (t=0.119, P>0.05). After 2 months of medication, OSDI score increased, TBUT time shortened significantly, tear secretion decreased, FL score increased, tear osmolarity increased. The differences were statistically significant (P<0.01, P<0.01, P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.01, P<0.01, P<0.01, respectively). The expression level of IL-6 and MMP-9 increased significantly 2 months after medication, with statistically significant differences (P<0.01 and P<0.01, respectively). There was a positive correlation between tear osmolarity and IL-6 (r=0.472, P<0.01), a positive correlation between tear osmolarity and MMP-9 (r=0.403, P<0.01), a negative correlation between tear osmolarity and BUT (r=－0.536, P<0.01), and no correlation between tear osmolarity and FL (r=0.143, P>0.05), which indicated that tear osmolarity, tear inflammatory factor and tear metalloproteinase expression level increased when dry eye occurred. CONCLUSION:Sertraline can effectively relieve and cure postpartum depression, but long-term administration can cause damage to ocular surface function, leading to an increase in the incidence of dry eye.

Key words: sertraline, postpartum depression, dry eye, tear osmolarity