Changes in intraocular pressure during acute exercise

The effect of vigorous physical activity on intraocular pressure has been well documented. Other studies have only focused on pretest and posttest measurements of intraocular pressure. This study presents a continuous evaluation of intraocular pressure during exercise and correlates changes in intraocular pressure with changes in heart rate through time. A total of 17 adult male and female subjects were submaximally tested on a bicycle ergometer using the Astrand-Rhyming protocol. The results of this test were used to design an individualized four-stage workload that would proportionally take each subject to 85% of a predicted maximum heart rate. During this test, intraocular pressure was measured at the end of each stage and through 15 min of recovery with an American Optical non-contact tonometer. A statistically significant decrease (p less than 0.05) in intraocular pressure was noted at the end of the fourth stage and during 1, 5, and 10 min of recovery; however, no trend was found to indicate a significant correlation between heart rate and intraocular pressure.