Purpose:
To investigate the dysfunction of autonomic control that may be a contributing factor in adolescent ocular hypertension and glaucoma.
Methods:
Twenty-nine adolescents with ocular hypertension (OHT), 11 untreated juvenile-onset open angle glaucoma and 8 body mass index (BMI) and age -matched controls were subjected to ambulatory 24-h electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring. Based on the ECG recordings, heart rate variability (HRV) frequency domain parameters [heart rate (HR), low-frequency (LF), high-frequency (HF), total power (TP) and LF/HF ratio] were calculated and analyzed in the three study groups.
Results:
No significant differences in age (13.1±3.4 years, from 10 to 18 years old), sex (33 male and 15 female) and BMI (18.3±3.2 kg/m2) among groups. A significant reduction in 24-h minimum (HR) and average HR was found in glaucoma adolescents (48.4±7.1 and 80.9±10.9) compared with OHT (54.4±6.6 and 89.5±8.7, P=0.025 and 0.002) and controls (59.6±9.4 and 93.3±8.3, P=0.013 and 0.008). LF and TP in glaucoma (1364.74 ± 817.93 and 4565.80 ± 3370.41) were statistically higher than in OHT (839.14 ± 459.98 and 2859.14 ±1587.16, P=0.012 and 0.031) and controls (611.19 ± 366.11 and 2114.54 ±1221.24, P=0.008 and 0.022). Glaucoma adolescents showed a significant increase in the standard deviation of all normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) in comparison with controls (151.8±41.0 vs. 109.7±26.4, P=0.015).
Conclusions:
The study suggested that juvenile-onset open angle glaucoma patients exhibit abnormal autonomic function.
Keywords: electrophysiology: clinical