Managing IOP in glaucoma patients isn’t about merely hitting the lowest low possible. Elemental to caring for these patients is monitoring the pressure fluctuation throughout the day. A study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology specifically looks at whether prostaglandin analogs can weaken the correlation between office-hour IOP and peak nocturnal IOP.

The investigators were able to show that, after treatment with a prostaglandin analog, the correlation between average office-hour IOP and nocturnal peak IOP in the sitting position and the supine position were reduced from the sitting baseline and the supine baseline.

The researchers looked over the 24-hour IOP data obtained in a sleep laboratory of 51 patients (22 with open-angle glaucoma and 29 with ocular hypertension). Patients had no IOP-lowering medication upon study entry and were treated with prostaglandin monotherapy for four weeks. Measurements of IOP were taken every two hours in the sitting and supine positions during the diurnal/wake period and in the supine position during the nocturnal/sleep period. Researchers noted statistically significant correlations for all the paired variables for the analyses. The average office-hour IOP had a higher correlation with peak nocturnal IOP than individual office-hour IOP.