Changes of intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma in relation to the passage of atmospheric fronts and environmental contamination.

Effects of atmospheric frontal passages on intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma are statistically investigated to show the meteorotropism of this disease. Changes in IOP caused by frontal passages are evident; the response is not identical in all the patients near the day of the passage of a warm front, while on the third day following the passage of the front a well pronounced drop in IOP occurs. Anomalous increases of IOP over several months' duration occurred in the years 1986-7. This finding is explained in relation to the hypothesis of environmental contamination in Central Europe by radioactive cesium nuclides due to the Chernobyl accident.