Intraocular pressure and cardiovascular risk variables.

The relationship between intraocular pressure and several cardiovascular risk factors was evaluated in data from the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 1971 to 1974. Mean IOP increased with increasing age for all groups. Blacks tended to have slightly higher levels than did whites. Intraocular pressure was correlated positively with systemic blood pressure in all groups. The pattern of the association of IOP with hematocrit reading, sedimentation rate, pulse rate, and serum cholesterol level was not consistent in the four race-sex groups. In all groups the variables in a regression model accounted for, at most, 8% of the variability in IOP reading.