Stress may be linked with persistent IOP-related elevation

Patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and patients with suspected glaucoma were fitted with a SENSIMED Triggerfish (TF) contact lens sensor (CLS) and followed for two 24-hour periods. Daily activity was recorded in a diary and CLS measurements recorded 60-to-30 min prior to each event, including “walking/cycling,” “resistance training,” “yoga/meditation,” and “emotional stress” were used as a baseline reference. IOP-related fluctuations that started within 2 hours of the start of each event were reported. 

Among 14 patients, 40 relevant events from 22 CLS recordings were retrieved.

During the 10 walking/cycling events, there was a statistically significant elevation of the IOP-related profile (P = 0.018). During the 11 resistance training events, a persistent elevation of the IOP-related profile from the start of the activity (P = 0.005) through 120 min after the activity was stopped (P = 0.007), was noted. A drop in IOP-related profiled was noted in the 4 yoga events from the start of the activity through 2 hours after. Emotional stress, which was record 13 times, was associated with a gradual elevation of the IOP-related profile from the start of the stressful stimulus.

Reference

Gillmann K, Weinreb RN, Mansouri K. The effect of daily life activities on intraocular pressure related variations in open-angle glaucoma. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):6598. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85980-2. PMID: 33758276.