Glaucoma independently associated with nondipping BP pattern

Individuals with glaucoma are more likely to experience increased night-time blood pressure (BP) independent of known risk factors such as age, obesity and diabetes as compared with those who do not have the eye disease, a study reports.

Researchers looked at 109 glaucoma patients (mean age, 71.0 years) from the Longitudinal Study of Biological Circadian Rhythms in Glaucoma Patients: Home Testing of Circadian Intraocular Pressure and Biological Parameters (LIGHT) study and 708 healthy control participants without glaucoma (mean age, 70.8 years) from a community-based cohort.

All of the participants underwent ophthalmic examinations and had their ambulatory BP measured every 30 minutes for 48 hours. Significantly more glaucoma patients than controls had low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), low best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the worse eye, high myopia and history of cataract surgery. Meanwhile, a nondipper pattern correlated with older age, use of antihypertensive drugs, low levels of eGFR and low BCVA.

Multivariable linear regression analyses revealed that night-time systolic BP in the glaucoma group was higher by 4.1-mm Hg (95 percent CI, 1.0–7.2; p=0.01) than in the control group. Accordingly, the prevalence of the nondipper pattern was significantly higher in the glaucoma group (45.0 percent vs 27.5 percent; p<0.001).

On further analysis, glaucoma was associated with 96-percent higher odds of having a nondipper pattern (odds ratio, 1.96, 1.26–3.05; p=0.003).

More studies involving larger numbers of glaucoma patients are required to establish whether the severity and progression of the eye disease are associated with circadian BP variability, according to the researchers.