Purpose

To investigate the effect of systemic arterial blood pressure (BP) on rates of progressive structural damage over time in glaucoma.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Participants

A total of 7501 eyes of 3976 subjects with glaucoma or suspected of glaucoma followed over time from the Duke Glaucoma Registry.

Methods

Linear mixed models were used to investigate the effects of BP on the rates of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) loss from spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) over time. Models were adjusted for intraocular pressure (IOP), gender, race, diagnosis, central corneal thickness (CCT), follow-up time, and baseline disease severity.

Main outcome measure

Effect of mean arterial pressure (MAP), systolic arterial pressure (SAP), and diastolic arterial pressure (DAP) on rates of RNFL loss over time.

Results

A total of 157 291 BP visits, 45 408 IOP visits, and 30 238 SD-OCT visits were included. Mean rate of RNFL change was -0.70 μm/year (95% confidence interval, -0.72 to -0.67 μm/year). In univariable models, MAP, SAP, and DAP during follow-up were not significantly associated with rates of RNFL loss. However, when adjusted for mean IOP during follow-up, each 10 mmHg reduction in mean MAP (-0.06 μm/year; P = 0.007) and mean DAP (-0.08 μm/year; P < 0.001) but not SAP (-0.01 μm/year; P = 0.355) was associated with significantly faster rates of RNFL thickness change over time. The effect of the arterial pressure metrics remained significant after additional adjustment for baseline age, diagnosis, sex, race, follow-up time, disease severity, and corneal thickness.

Conclusions

When adjusted for IOP, lower MAP and DAP during follow-up were significantly associated with faster rates of RNFL loss, suggesting that levels of systemic BP may be a significant factor in glaucoma progression.