Ocular perfusion pressure and glaucoma: the Beijing Eye Study

The purpose of the study was to examine a relationship between ocular perfusion pressure and open-angle glaucoma in a population-based setting in China.

The Beijing Eye Study 2006 is a population-based investigation, which included 3251 subjects (response rate: 73.2%). Mean age was 60.4+/-10.0 years (range, 45-89 years). Glaucoma was defined by a glaucomatous appearance of the optic disc.

Neither in univariate nor in multivariate statistical analysis, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean blood pressure, and ocular perfusion pressure were significantly associated with the prevalence of open-angle glaucoma. It also holds true if the whole glaucoma group was differentiated into a normal-pressure glaucoma group and a high-pressure glaucoma group.

In contrast to earlier population-based studies on western societies, the prevalence of open-glaucoma (also when differentiated into normal-pressure and high-pressure glaucomas) was not associated with the ocular perfusion pressure. The reasons for the discrepancy may be that most of the glaucoma patients in this study were untreated; that more than 80% of the glaucoma subjects of the present investigation had an intraocular pressure measurement <22 mmHg; and differences in the definition of glaucoma.