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Can patients guess their intraocular pressure?
William C Stewart1, Angi L Jackson, Jessica N Jenkins
1Pharmaceutical Research Network, LLC, Charleston, South Carolina 29412-2464, USA. prnc@bellsouth.net
American Journal of Ophthalmology
|February 14, 2004
Summary
Most patients cannot accurately guess their intraocular pressure (IOP). Believing they can guess IOP does not improve accuracy compared to patients who do not attempt to guess.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Patient-reported outcomes
Background:
- Intraocular pressure (IOP) is a critical metric in glaucoma management.
- Understanding patient perception of their IOP is important for adherence and self-management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether patients can accurately guess their intraocular pressure (IOP).
- To explore the symptoms patients use to self-assess their IOP.
Main Methods:
- A patient survey was conducted.
- Consecutive patients were asked to guess their IOP and identify associated symptoms.
Main Results:
- 17% of patients believed they could guess their IOP, often using periocular symptoms.
- Accuracy in determining if IOP was high or low relative to symptoms was limited.
- Patients guessing IOP showed similar accuracy to controls, regardless of symptom use.
Conclusions:
- Patients' self-assessed IOP accuracy is comparable to those who do not guess.
- Belief in guessing IOP does not correlate with improved self-assessment accuracy.
- Periocular symptoms are commonly, but not always reliably, used for IOP self-assessment.