Weekly and seasonal changes of intraocular pressure measured with an implanted intraocular telemetry sensor

To better understand seasonal and weekday intraocular pressure (IOP) variations, long-term daily IOP measurements were assessed in patients with glaucoma using an intraocular telemetric sensor.

This prospective, open-label, multicentre observational study analysed the IOP variation patterns in 22 eyes of 22 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (67.8±6.8 years, 36.4% female) who had undergone placement of an intraocular telemetric sensor at the time of cataract surgery. The telemetric system combines an implantable IOP sensor with a hand-held reading device. Patients were instructed to self-measure their IOP as often as desired, but at least four times daily. Analysis of variance and Tukey multiple-comparison correction were used to assess the statistical significance of average and peak IOP variations between individual weekdays and months.

Each enrolled patient recorded daily IOP measurements for an average duration of 721 days. On average, IOPs were highest on Wednesdays and lowest on Fridays (p=0.002). There were significant variations of IOP throughout the year, and IOP showed a seasonal pattern. Between mid-winter (December-January) and mid-summer months, there was a reduction in mean IOP of 8.1% (-1.55 mm Hg, p<0.05).

This study confirms previously observed seasonal variations of IOP. IOP was significantly higher in winter compared with summer months. Moreover, IOP was lower on Friday than on other days. The explanation for these results is not known.