Low blood pressure—a risk factor for nerve fibre loss in institionalized geriatric glaucoma patients

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Abstract
Twohundred and thirteen institutionalized geriatric glaucoma patients aged 64–99 years (mean 83,1 ± 6,9 years), at the Koskela Municipal Hospital were examined ophthalmologically and analyzed for blood pressure (BP). The mean systolic BP, measured in 208 patients, was 146 ± 25 mmHg and diastolic 82± 13 mmHg. Thirty‐eight of 208 patients (18%) had low BP (≤120 mmHg) and 38 had high BP (> 160 mmHg). The intraocular pressure (IOP) correlated significantly with the systolic BP, the correlation being highly significant in patients with BP >160 mmHg.Fifty‐five of the 208 patients were considered blind: visual acuity (VA) in the better eye 160 mmHg had better VA (0,25 ± 0,23) and visual fields (VF) than the patients with BP ≤120 mmHg (0,13 ≤ 0,21).Low systolic BP (≤120 mmHg) is associated with visual impairment, since twice as many blind patients occurred among those with low BP than among the rest, and 71% of those with low BP had glaucoma in both eyes, compared with 56% of the patients with higher BP.When all the patients in whom VF could be plotted are considered, it can be concluded that low systolic BP was more frequent with VF progressing from grade 1 to grade 4.Low systolic BP is a risk factor for old aged glaucoma patients.

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