Glaucoma pressure fluctuates

Some patients with glaucoma may have greater pressure in their eyes during sleep, meaning that the severity of the disease can go unrecognized during daytime exams, researchers have found.

Higher intraocular pressure, the force within the eyeball, and greater daily fluctuation in pressure may increase the risk that glaucoma will develop or worsen, according to the report in the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

Untreated glaucoma can lead to vision loss.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Robert Weinreb and Dr. John Liu of UC San Diego said understanding pressure changes could improve treatment of the disease. “High intraocular pressure is recognized, perhaps, as the most important risk factor for the development of open-angle glaucoma and its progression,” they said.

However, they added, “A single determination of intraocular pressure during regular clinic hours may not fully reveal its relationship to the optic nerve damage that accrues with glaucoma.”