Abstract
Purpose :
The distribution of IOP in younger adults has been little studied. We used cross-sectional and longitudinal data to evaluate the distribution of IOP in young adults and whether this changed through early adulthood.
Methods :
Participants were recruited from eight Australian epidemiological studies: Western Australian Eye Protection Study, Kidskin Study, Norfolk Island Eye Study, Twins Eye Studies in Tasmania, Brisbane and Western Australia, Glaucoma Inheritance Study in Tasmania, and The Raine Study. All participants had an eye examination during which their IOP was measured. Participants aged 18–30 years and of European descent were included in the cross-sectional analysis. Additionally, a separate group of participants from the Raine Study had baseline (around 20 years old) and follow-up IOP (around 28 years old) measured, and analysed longitudinally. Only data from the right eyes were used.
Results :
Cross-sectional data was available from 1447 participants. Overall mean IOP was 15.4±3.4 mmHg. Variation in IOP was -0.13 mmHg per year (95%CI= 0.05–0.21), p< 0.001. 30 participants had a family history of glaucoma. Those with a family history of glaucoma had higher IOP by 2.7mmHg (95%CI= 1.3–4.3) than the rest of the cohorts.
Longitudinal data was available for 617 Raine Study participants. The mean IOP at baseline (20 years) and follow-up (28 years) were 15.4±3.2 and 14.1±3.4 mmHg, respectively. IOP decreased by 0.15 mmHg per year (95%CI= 0.12–0.19), p< 0.001.
Conclusions :
We show a similar slight decrease in IOP through the third decade of life of > 1mm Hg. Whilst not of concern at an individual level, some mechanism appears to be influencing IOP in early adult life. This small difference may need to be taken into account with any trials involving young adults when a change of IOP is an outcome measure.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.