Alcohol and open angle glaucoma--influence on detection, IOP, BP/IOP ratios

This study was undertaken to determine whether the ingestion of moderate amounts of ethyl alcohol should be contraindicated in the presence of open-angle glaucoma and/or might interfere with glaucoma detection by methods based on measurement of intraocular pressure (IOP) alone or of the ratios, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure to intraocular pressure, sBP/IOP and dBP/IOP, respectively. Following ingestion of alcohol at the rate of 1 ml/kg body weight, IOP, sBP, and dBP were measured in 73 adult subjects at 15 minute intervals for 90 minutes. Ingestation of alcohol resulted in a reduction of IOP, sBP, and dBP. The ratios sBP/IOP and dBP/IOP showed an increase. This included five subjects with a baseline sBP/IOP of less than 5.75. Results of this study suggest that ingestion of moderate amounts of alcohol will probably reduce IOP in open-angle glaucoma, and need not be contraindicated. On the other hand, consumption of a moderate quantity of alcohol by a subject one to two hours prior to participation in a gluacoma screening program may result in a missed detection by either of the usual criteria of IOP alone or of a BP/IOP ratio.