The relationship between intraocular pressure and refractive error adjusting for age and central corneal thickness.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between intraocular pressure (IOP) and refractive errors after adjusting for age, central corneal thickness (CCT), and other related factors.

METHODS

IOP, CCT and refractive errors were measured in the right eyes of 1855 subjects, aged 40-82 years, in a cross-sectional study design. Subjects were divided into groups by refractive status: hyperopia, emmetropia, mild myopia, moderate myopia, or high myopia. With adjustments for age, CCT, blood pressure, obesity, education, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking status, IOP was estimated for each refractive status using a general linear model.

RESULTS

IOP increased with advancing degrees of myopia, even after adjustment for age, CCT, and other related factors (p = 0.011). Estimated IOP of moderate myopia was significantly higher than that of emmetropia (p = 0.022).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results confirm the positive association between IOP and increasing degrees of myopia. This finding would support the hypothesis that the relationship between glaucoma and myopia might be pressure mediated.