Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate whether aerobic exercise could reduce IOP and its association with morphological changes in Schlemm’s canal (SC) in both open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients and healthy subjects using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT).
Methods :
In this cross-sectional study, thirty-five patients with OAG (59 eyes) and 36 healthy subjects (72 eyes) were enrolled consecutively. All subjects ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity of aerobic exercise. Before and after aerobic exercise, IOP was measured by goldmann applanation tonometry, and four limbal quadrants (inferior, superior, nasal, and temporal) were captured by SS-OCT (Figure 1). The cross-sectional area and the diameter of the SC were measured in ImageJ software. The mean IOP, cross-sectional area, and diameter of the SC were compared before and after exercise in both healthy subjects and patients with OAG.
Results :
Following aerobic exercise, mean IOP decreased from 16.82 ± 4.40 to 14.70 ± 3.52 mmHg in eyes with OAG (P < 0.001) and from 13.04 ± 2.31 to 12.03 ± 1.73 mmHg in healthy eyes (P < 0.001). The mean cross-sectional area and diameter of the SC significantly increased after aerobic exercise in eyes with OAG (from 80.48 ± 59.54 to 99.20 ± 54.87 pixels, P < 0.001; and from 3.73 ± 1.69 to 4.33 ± 1.74 pixels, P < 0.001, respectively) and in healthy eyes (from 151.84 ± 52.76 to 198.23 ± 53.7, P < 0.001; and from 5.61 ± 1.02 to 6.47 ± 1.2, P < 0.001, respectively).
Conclusions :
Short-term aerobic exercise appears to decrease IOP in patients with OAG and healthy subjects, and the mechanism associated with reduced IOP may be due to increased SC parameters. Therefore, aerobic exercise could be a promising adjuvant treatment for OAG patients to control IOP.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.