This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Height, smoking, diabetes, ethnicity related to IOP, researchers say
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Researchers explored associations within various physical and demographic factors for Goldmann-correlated intraocular pressure and corneal-compensated IOP, and systolic blood pressure and refractive error were found to be the strongest factors influencing both.
Chan and colleagues included 110,573 participants from the Biobank British cohort, according to the study published in Ophthalmology. Mean patient age was 57 years, with 54% women and 90% Caucasian.
Participants underwent IOP readings on each eye using the Ocular Response Analyzer (Reichert) noncontact tonometer. Researchers used the left eye value for the study, as they were measured after the right eye and likely less prone to artifacts with the participant more familiar with test, they said.
The mean Goldmann-correlated IOP (IOPg) was 15.72 mm Hg, and the mean corneal-compensated IOP (IOPcc) was 15.95 mm Hg. Both IOPg and IOPcc were significantly associated with older age, male sex, higher systolic blood pressure, faster heart rate, greater myopia, self-reported glaucoma and colder season, according to the study.
Researchers found the following variables had different directions of association with IOPg and IOPcc: height (-0.77 mm Hg/m IOPg; 1.03 mm Hg/m IOPcc), smoking (0.19 mm Hg IOPg, -0.35 mm Hg IOPcc), self-reported diabetes (0.41 mm Hg IOPg, -0.05 mm Hg IOPcc) and African American ethnicity (-0.80 mm Hg IOPg, 0.77 mm Hg IOPcc). Among those of mixed ethnicities, the increase in IOPg and IOPcc was the greatest, followed by African Americans and Caucasians.
Central corneal thickness is correlated with IOPg, according to the researchers, but not IOPcc, and IOPcc is not correlated with corneal resistance factor.
Height is plausibly related to determinants of collagen-related processes, which may explain the different associations with IOPg and IOPcc, the researchers wrote.
They found that self-reported glaucoma has the greatest effect on IOP (=1.97 mm Hg IOPg, 2.30 mm Hg IOPcc). – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: Chan reported funding by an MRC/RCOphth Clinical Training Fellowship
(G1001939/1) and the International Glaucoma Association. Please see the full study for all remaining authors’ financial disclosures.
Perspective
Back to Top
Scott Anthony, OD, FAAO
Intraocular pressure is a biological measurement known to increase the risk for developing glaucoma when elevated. By evaluating IOP trends in a large population of patients grouped by environment, biometry and genetics, specific associations begin to surface that could help explain IOP dynamics among individuals.
Smartly, the researchers have minimized the effects of corneal biomechanics by using the Ocular Response Analyzer, which helps clarify the associations drawn from the study.
This study highlights significant associations between IOP and specific physical and demographic factors. Now researchers must build upon these findings to determine why these associations exist – a necessary step toward developing individualized glaucoma risk assessments for our patients in the future.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts